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

Einstein was certainly aware of this huge problem.

The theory of relativity is so shocking that it cannot be verified experimentally.

Physics is essentially an experimental science, so this is difficult to do.

Just like before, Planck published the correct formula for blackbody radiation, but was unable to give a correct mathematical proof.

In short, both make it difficult for their theories to convince the public.

What's more, the current theory of relativity still has major loopholes: it cannot be generalized to the acceleration system, and its applicability is very small.

Einstein himself expressed this distress in a letter to Li Yu, but neither of these two points can be solved in a short time.

However, after all, these are academic issues, and what Laue mentioned next is full of hidden dangers: "They also said that your theory has a strong Jewish flavor, because there are formulas that are difficult to understand and crack. There seems to be something unhealthy about it. Neither continental Europeans nor British people are likely to come up with such a theory."

"Why do they think so?" Einstein wondered.

"Maybe it's because they think this abstract expression is more Jewish," Laue said.

Laue was a kind reminder. As a long-term friend of Einstein later, he and Planck both helped Einstein after Mustache came to power.

Einstein sighed: "Sometimes I really wonder whether faith is faith, and it has become a stumbling block? I even envy the Orientals. Although they seem backward now, they have no such constraints at all. Who It’s hard to say freedom.”

Laue asked again: "I observed for a while when I was at the patent office. The work there requires sitting for eight hours a day, six days a week. If you want to focus on physics research, you should find a better job as soon as possible. positions, such as universities.”

"Don't I want to?" Einstein said bitterly: "I had this idea before I entered the patent office, but no university agreed at all, and no one wrote me a letter of recommendation."

"I heard from Professor Planck that Li Yu rejected the letter from the University of Zurich to hire him as a professor, and recommended you in the reply letter," Laue said.

"Really?" Einstein said in shock, "What a good friend! He also supports my theory of relativity very much and has done a lot of substantial help."

Laue said: "But I don't know how the University of Zurich will decide. It will probably start with unsalaried lecturers."

As the name suggests, unsalaried lecturers are lecturers who do not receive a salary, and their income comes from students.Laue himself worked as an unpaid lecturer at the University of Berlin.

But this is a test of the teaching level.

As for Einstein, I can only say that he was not particularly good at giving lectures...

But as long as he could enter university, it was Einstein's supreme pursuit: "I can accept being a lecturer without a salary, but I have to spend a few months saving money first, otherwise I won't even be able to take good care of my children."

-

Shanghai.

Li Yu and Zhang Yuanji went to Yuyuan specifically to look at the books that had been shipped over. Zhang Yuanji was someone who knew how to collect ancient books, and many of the regulations were made by him himself.

He couldn't put it down these books and spent time in Yu Garden when he had nothing to do.Anyway, Li Yu and Lu Bicheng didn't live here now, so it would be a waste if they didn't.

In the library, books are arranged in batches according to the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing editions. The most conspicuous place is of course the two hundred Song editions.

Li Yu felt that these ancient books were afraid of breaking when he picked them up. According to the preservation concept of ancient books in later generations, they should be photocopied and the originals were rarely taken out.

Li Yu understood this truth, so he said to Zhang Yuanji: "Brother Xiaozhai, I feel really uneasy with only one copy. It's best to find someone to copy it by hand."

These words touched Zhang Yuanji's heart, "I feel the same way. Thinking about how Yu Garden was destroyed by foreigners, it is inevitable that it will not happen again. At least multiple backups can be preserved."

Manuscripts were very common in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Although printing has been around for thousands of years, it was only for best-sellers. Other books could only be passed down through hand-written copies.

Even for a vast royal project like the "Sikuquanshu", the seven sets of books were completed purely by hand.

Foreign manuscripts are more common.

Therefore, copying books is a very common job, and many scholars from poor families do it as a part-time job.

Even in the 1980s or 1990s, when photocopiers were not yet popular, students in domestic libraries would still use notebooks to copy.

Zhang Yuanji added: "Just now that the imperial examination has been abandoned, there are countless people studying. In the past, copying books was expensive, but now it only takes half or even one-third of the price to recruit many copyists."

After the abolition of the imperial examination, the problem of hundreds of thousands of scholars is difficult to solve. They only know four books and five classics. Suddenly, without the imperial examination, they have almost lost their survival skills.

It is said that there are really too many reasons for the demise of the Qing Dynasty. The Revolution of [-] was so quickly responded to by various places, and the Qing court offended all the scholars in the world is a reason that cannot be ignored.

——As for those who engage in new learning, they are even more looking forward to the demise of the Qing Dynasty.

Li Yu asked: "Where can I find the scribe?"

"Simple," Zhang Yuanji said, "let's go sit in a tavern next to the Shanghai County Government Office and put up a notice. I can guarantee that we will be surrounded in less than a quarter of an hour."

The Shanghai County Government Office was not far from Yu Garden, and Li Yu got on a rickshaw with him.

On the way, Li Yu saw many idle scholars.The Four Books and Five Classics they had read for more than ten years were of no use, but with their youth gone, it was even less possible for them to put down their dignity and take off their long robes to do menial work, so they became increasingly depressed.

Zhang Yuanji pointed to a scholar in a long gown and said, "Look at this man."

Zhang Yuanji refers to a scholar who is following the kid selling fried dough sticks, and seems to be imitating the kid selling fried dough sticks.

But he was embarrassed to shout.

A child shouted loudly in front: "They are selling youtiao! Hot youtiao!"

The scholar, carrying a basket filled with fried dough sticks, said, "Same!"

The child yelled again: "Buy fried dough sticks! I have big fried dough sticks just out of the oven."

The scholar then said: "It's the same!"

His voice was not as high as that of a child.Needless to say, none of them were sold.

Zhang Yuanji said: "I used to want to recruit a few talented people to the press, but most of these people were unwilling to work, and especially rejected the foreign machines in the press. The most troublesome thing is that they must wear long blouses instead of short blouses. How can we work like this?!"

Li Yu shook his head and sighed: "This is a high platform that scholars can't get off, and it's a long gown that they can't take off."

Now it is a real personal experience, without any metaphor.

During the conversation, the two came to a tavern outside the Shanghai County Government Office. Zhang Yuanji took out a small piece of paper that he had written long ago, which read:

"Master Li of Yuyuan recruits calligraphers. He requires good character, good calligraphy, and hard work. He is paid according to his work, and those who work hard can get half a pound of money a day."

Zhang Yuanji handed the paper to the tavern owner and asked him to stand next to it on a pole.

As expected, many people gathered around. After the news spread, many scholars who were walking near the county government office came to the tavern.

These people all said: "Master, I have been learning Chinese calligraphy since I was seven years old, choose me!"

"You are only seven years old, and I started learning calligraphy when I was five years old. Can you write as well as me?"

"Sir, I have learned the calligraphy of Dong Qichang and Zhao Mengfu for many years, and I have been admitted as a scholar. No one is better than me!"

"Master, there is also me. I can imitate the Preface to the Holy Teachings and the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection, and they are almost fake. There is no one here who can write better than me!"

……

Li Yu was a tall man. He stood up and took a look. The whole tavern was already packed, and there were many people coming outside to see it. There were about three to four hundred people.

Li Yu was extremely ashamed that there were so many idle scholars.

"Brother Shucai, let me tell you!" Zhang Yuanji asked, "How many people do you want?"

Li Yu said: "The scale of the Song Tower is not small, but it is impossible to use all the rooms in Yuyuan to copy books. I feel that at most ten people are enough."

Zhang Yuanji looked at the people in Wuyangyang and said, "Then you have to think of a selection method."

Li Yu thought for a moment, "Yes!"

He stood up again, cleared his throat, and said loudly: "Everyone, be quiet! I sent someone to prepare pen and ink. After a while, everyone wrote four ways of writing the word 'fennel' for fennel beans on a piece of paper, asking for Use four different fonts, including special fonts for printing. In the end, Mr. Zhang will judge the top ten."

The following are general requirements.

Zhang Yuanji was puzzled and asked: "Why does it have to be 'fen'? And, there are really four ways to write it?"

Li Yu smiled and said, "I'm just trying to create a difficult problem. Otherwise, how would I choose someone?"

In fact, Li Yu suddenly thought of Kong Yiji when he saw a few bowls on the tavern.

In the original text, Kong Yiji really wanted to write these four ways of writing, and he had already dipped his fingers in water.But Brother Xun ignored him, and Kong Yiji felt a little lonely, perhaps because he had no chance to show off.

Li Yu just said casually, the key is calligraphy skills.

Soon, these scholars began to write one by one. After a while, Zhang Yuanji selected the ten with the best calligraphy among them.

Five of them were scholars.

This shows how few opportunities there are for scholars nowadays.

Others returned in disgust, but these ten people were extremely excited.

Li Yu observed and observed that it was approaching the twelfth month of winter, and most of the long gowns they wore were very shabby, and their fingers were red from the cold. They could still write standard and beautiful handwriting, which showed that their calligraphy skills had been engraved in their muscle memory.

But it's a pity that they know the four ways to write the word "fennel" and they have no other use.

It can only be said to be the pain of the times.

Li Yu said to the waiter: "Warm each of these ten gentlemen a bowl of good wine."

The waiter in the shop was afraid that there would be no business, so he immediately called out: "Ten bowls of good wine, let's go!"

One of the scholars rubbed his hands and said, "Sir, in fact, turbid wine is fine. We don't have to choose! After all, a bowl of good wine costs ten cents, and a bowl of turbid wine only costs [-] cents. Why don't we drink two and a half bowls of turbid wine to feel comfortable?" .”

Li Yu smiled and said: "You are good at settling accounts. Do you want fennel beans?"

The scholar said: "That is naturally the best."

"Forget it, good wine is good wine," Li Yu said, "I see, you just want to drink more, let the restaurant warm three bowls of good wine for each of you."

When the wine was served, they immediately drank a bowl first.

"It's warm! It's so comfortable!"

"I haven't had a good drink in more than half a year!"

The scholar wiped his mouth and asked again: "By the way, sir, I have copied books for many wealthy families in the past, but this is the first time I see someone like you writing the word "fennel". I struggled to remember it."

This is a difficult subject to begin with.

"I was reminded of an old friend," Li Yu said with a smile, "Okay, come with me after drinking."

No matter when, those who can have a garden at home are definitely very wealthy families.

After they followed Li Yu and Zhang Yuanji to Yu Garden, they were shocked: "I saw construction started here at the beginning of the year. It turns out that it really belongs to you, sir. It's awesome, awesome!"

"By the way, sir, may I ask, what is your honorific name?"

Zhang Yuanji said on behalf of Li Yu: "You have been making trouble for a long time and you don't even know the name of my boss. Let me tell you, remember it. He is the emperor's master, the scientific giant Li Yu."

"It's you!" Several scholars were even more surprised.

Immediately, someone sighed: "It's a pity that I didn't learn new things back then. Otherwise, how could I be so depressed? At least I was a teacher in a school."

Li Yu said: "I have put several sets of introductory lectures on various subjects of the new disciplines that I have compiled in the library. You can take a look at them at your leisure."

Li Yu arranged a room for them specifically for copying, and asked Zhang Yuanji to find several people from the Commercial Press to help manage it. After all, these Song editions were too precious and had to be taken care of.

Even Kong Yiji would secretly take things away when copying books for others, and he said euphemistically, "Stealing books cannot be counted as stealing!"

Does it count?

Li Yu hoped they would steal those new textbooks.

The price Li Yu offered was not low, four to five hundred cash per day, which was enough for their living expenses for ten days.If you copy it for a month or two, your life will be worry-free for at least a year.

Li Yu wanted to be like Lu Xun and watch the experiences of these people with a cold eye, but as a modern person, he obviously couldn't do it. After all, they were separated by a century.

Lu Xun was "sorrowful for his misfortune and angry for not fighting", while Li Yu could only "sorrow for his misfortune" because Li Yu knew that someone would naturally fight.

As for these hundreds of thousands of scholars, let nature take its course. The torrent of the times will not let go of any drop of water.

The scholars were very excited when they saw that what they copied was the Song version of the book. After all, none of them had ever seen such a precious collection of books. Today was an eye-opener.

The scholar pointed to the title page and said: "It turns out to be the seal of the book collection of the Lujiakan Song Tower in Huzhou."

Li Yu suddenly realized that he had to carve a few special collection seals, and almost forgot about it.