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

Chapter 475 The Last Lesson

Zaifeng valued his son very much. Even if he couldn't be the emperor, his son was worthy enough to be.

Puyi has indeed reached his age. According to the tradition established by the palace since the Kangxi Dynasty, he must be vaccinated.

Originally, he wanted to follow the previous rules of the palace and get vaccinated with pox, but the foreigners kept saying that cowpox was better, so he came to find out more.

British Minister Zhu Erdian and American Minister Rou Keyi arrived first, along with a doctor from the British Embassy.

Zai Fengze and Zai Zhen arrived later.

In order to entertain, Li Yu specially asked people to bring some very rare fruits from the Tianjin Concession, such as strawberries - not to mention the common people, few princes and ministers have seen it now.

In addition, considering the presence of foreigners, we hired a chef from a Western restaurant to cook top-notch steaks.

After everyone arrived, a dance was held first to enhance feelings.The social dance of foreigners is simple, and ordinary people can learn a rough outline of it quickly.

After all, Zaifeng and Zai Zhen were young and had been abroad, so they quickly integrated into this atmosphere.

After the dance, everyone talked about recent cultural, scientific and educational matters, and then the vaccination was slowly mentioned.

The British tried to introduce cowpox in China decades ago. Their thinking is easy to understand, just like the original statement about hats: The British felt that there were so many people in China, if everyone bought a hat from a British factory cotton hats, then factories all over the UK would not be able to produce them, and the trade volume would be huge.

And if cowpox is promoted, British pharmaceutical companies will definitely rise, and it may be easy to kill the German pharmaceutical companies they currently hate.

But, ideas are always good.

The British Minister Juldian wanted to open up a hole in the royal family. If that was the case, they thought they could continue to promote it on a large scale.

Well, I still think a little naively.

As for Zaifeng, although he is a typical person with great ambition and talent, he is not disgusted with foreign things, and he is relatively open-minded among Aisin Gioro.

After hearing about the benefits of cowpox from British doctors, Zaifeng said: "I have known about it before, and even went to the Imperial Hospital to ask. But the imperial doctor from the Imperial Hospital said that variola is a rule set by the Holy Ancestor Emperor and cannot be broken. So it’s very difficult.”

Li Yu added: "Vaccination with cowpox not only has a high success rate, but also has strong resistance to smallpox, and is not very painful. However, vaccination with variolation may fail."

Li Yu's words reminded Zai Feng of the scene when he was vaccinated against smallpox when he was a child. Usually, he used the scabs of smallpox patients, dried them, processed them into powder, and blew them into the nasal cavity.

If you listen to this process, you will know that there is a chance of failure.

Zaifeng also knew that Emperor Daoguang's two daughters had died after receiving variolation.

Zaifeng said: "The imperial doctor said that the vaccination failed because he was not sincere during the vaccination, but I had already taken my child to worship the acne god in advance."

"Pox God" was very common in the late Qing Dynasty. In some places, she was called the Pox Empress or the Smallpox Empress. She was the goddess of acne in folk belief.

Since there is such a belief, it can be seen from the side that the probability of failure of variolation is very high.

Li Yu said: "Shanghai's Shenbao has reported on cowpox many times, and also specifically introduced Zeng Guofan's vigorous promotion of cowpox."

Zaifeng said: "I have read the contents of the declaration."

Li Yu said: "Then you must have seen the example of Shenbao reporter Cheng Qiting's personal experience. Cheng Qiting said that there used to be a cowpox bureau in his hometown, and every spring a doctor would come to inject his children, and he would spend four to five hundred dollars every year. Children are vaccinated. His two daughters are still in good health after being vaccinated with cowpox.

However, the cowpox bureau was closed down within a few years, because the doctor who had vaccinated against variolation could not stand the idea that cowpox was robbing business. The Shangguan government complained that all the children who had been vaccinated died, and that cowpox was a Western witchcraft. The doctor who opened the cowpox bureau The doctor was a traitor, so the Cowpox Bureau was closed down.

But then, the next year, smallpox became prevalent, and people who had been vaccinated against variola died on a large scale.Cheng Qiting's son also contracted smallpox and died young because there was no cowpox to be vaccinated. "

Zaifeng was very scared after hearing this.Several recent emperors either died young, like Zhi and Xianfeng, or were infertile, like Guangxu.

The Aixinjueluo royal family seemed to be infected with some kind of curse.

Zaifeng looked at the British doctor: "Can you guarantee that vaccination with cowpox will not endanger the lives of young children?"

The British doctor said: "I swear to God, never!"

Zaifeng did not believe in God and said to Li Yu: "Master Emperor, what do you think?"

Li Yu said: "When I have a child, I will definitely be vaccinated against cowpox."

"That's it," Zaifeng thought for a while and then said to the doctor, "I'll go back and think about it carefully."

At least there was a change in attitude. The British doctor said: "The prince can come to me at any time."

It didn't matter if Li Yu helped him with this kind of thing. Anyway, Puyi had successfully vaccinated against variolation in history.

Li Yu asked the cook to bring him food and wine, but before he had a few sips, the patrol department suddenly came to the door.

"Li Yu, come out quickly! We have an investigation order!"

As soon as Zhao Qian opened the door, several patrol policemen rushed in. "We can see clearly that Li Yu blatantly overstepped his bounds. This is no small matter!"

Zhao Qian laughed and said, "What a big deal?"

"You guys are fooling around here!" the patrolman said angrily, "Young men, go in and get Li Yu!"

Zhao Qian was already experienced in this situation and allowed them to rush in.

The patrolman came to the house and saw Li Yu eating. He snorted coldly: "Li Yu, come back to the Yamen with us and stay in jail."

Li Yu put down his chopsticks and said calmly: "Why?"

The patrol officer said confidently: "You have no respect for the king's laws. You dare to violate the etiquette system in the imperial city. It's a shame that you have the official title of the Ministry of Etiquette."

Before the patrolman could move, Zaifeng couldn't sit still: "You're so outrageous! Get out!"

The patrolman didn't know Zaifeng. People in Prince Chun's palace were keeping a low profile because of Guangxu's relationship. Moreover, he was wearing casual clothes today, just like the British and American ministers.

The patrolman said: "Who are you! How dare you talk to me like this? None of the foreign gentlemen said anything. Why are you dancing?"

Li Yu was amused. Because the patrol department was controlled by the Japanese, it was now very bold and not very afraid of foreigners.

Zai Feng said angrily: "You bastard! How could I have overstepped the bounds of my wife's residence?"

"This king?" The patrolman was stunned.

Zhao Qian then trotted over and said, "Several military masters, I told you that we have distinguished guests. This is Prince Chun, that is Zhen Beizi, as well as the British Minister Zhu Erdian and the American Minister Rou Keyi."

When the patrolman heard this, he broke into a cold sweat, his knees went weak, he knelt down and banged his head several times: "Your Majesty, I'm sorry, I'm just here to get Li Yu."

Zai Feng was even more angry. Wasn't it just to criticize his wife's natal family by setting up such a crime? After all, this mansion still belonged to the Rong family.

Zaifeng said: "Let Kawashima Naniwa come to me! I have long disliked the patrol department. Yuan Shikai only introduces some irrelevant things!"

In fact, the patrol department in the capital was established by Prince Su, but the police system did originate from Yuan Shikai's Beiyang. Zaifeng actually pointed the finger directly at Yuan Shikai.

Li Yu didn't expect that there would be such a problem, but he couldn't control so much.

They had a big conflict to begin with, and this was true...

The patrolman kowtowed and ran out in a panic.

Li Yu then poured Zaifeng a glass of wine: "Your Majesty, calm down."

Zaifeng drank it all in one gulp: "We'll see!" Most likely he was referring to Yuan Shikai's group.

-

Kawashima Naniwa was a little surprised when he saw the patrolman coming back in a panic and said, "Li Yu can predict the future and is always one step ahead."

He immediately thought of the spy Konoe Ayuki who had been deployed, which was somewhat derelict in his duty.

But she was not in the capital recently, and Li Yu asked her to supervise the factory. The first batch of goods sold to Japan will be shipped out soon.

This batch of goods was purchased by Mitsui. The quantity is not small, mainly instant noodles and MSG.

-

A few days later, the goods arrived at the Tanggu Port Terminal, and Li Yu, as the boss, went over to inspect them.

Li Yu secretly laughed in his heart. Originally, these two things were created by the Japanese, but now they made them themselves and sold them to Japan.

When the ship left the port and Li Yu was about to return to the capital, Duan Qirui intercepted him again and said, "Master Emperor, we have introduced a batch of advanced balloons. I hope you can explain some principles."

"Balloon?" Li Yu asked doubtfully.

"During the Russo-Japanese War, Wu Peifu saw the power of observation balloons and made suggestions to us many times, so Beiyang specially bought two observation balloons." Duan Qirui said.

"Wouldn't it be better to read the operating instructions?" Li Yu said.

"That's true, but you haven't come to the Military Academy for a long time..." Duan Qirui said.

Well, it turns out this is the reason.

But Li Yu happened to be able to tell them about air combat, and then he could talk about the aircraft.

Although Li Yu has no hope for Beiyang to build aircraft, as long as they can pay for research, it will be helpful to the domestic aviation industry, especially aviation talents.

Arriving at the long-lost Beiyang Armed Forces School, Duan Qirui first showed Li Yu the balloon, "The Taihu Autumn Exercise will be held soon. We are preparing to conduct a drill to let the new armies from other places know that our Beiyang New Army is the strongest. "

The Qing government organized and trained so many new troops, and the way to test their combat effectiveness was through exercises.

Originally, according to regulations, it should be done once a year, but the Qing government had no money, so it had to change it to do it if it had money, and not if it didn't.

Since the formation and training of the new army, there have been only four drills in total, and the Taihu Autumn Exercise was the penultimate one.

Li Yu said: "General Duan, observation requires a telescope, and all telephone lines and wireless equipment must be prepared."

"Of course that's the case," Duan Qirui said, "Of course I bought your radio, and the telescope and phone were made from Germany. It is said that the lenses come from a company called Zeiss."

"Cai Si." Li Yu murmured.

Duan Qirui asked: "Does the Emperor know?"

Li Yu said: "Of course I know. In the future, I want to upgrade my technology and build an optical laboratory in China."

"Light...study?" Duan Qirui said, "It turns out it's still a science."

"As you become more knowledgeable," Li Yu said.

Duan Qirui said: "It would be better to open it in the Military Academy. Who doesn't want to have clairvoyance in the war?"

Li Yu smiled and said: "It's not that simple, just do it step by step."

Duan Qirui forced Li Yu to take classes for another month because the school's German teacher took leave to travel again; and because of Yuan Shikai's changes, many things in Beiyang were accelerating and he couldn't wait.

What's more, there is also the Qiu Cao exercise. Duan Qirui said: "Marshal Yuan sent me a telegram some time ago, saying that when he chatted with Lord Zhang Zhidong, he found out that many soldiers in the Hubei New Army can read! It's incredible! Marshal Yuan said that this time We cannot lose face and let others laugh at us for being uneducated."

Li Yu smiled and said: "It makes sense."

Zhang Zhidong's new army is indeed highly educated.

But now that Yuan Shikai has actually released his military power, Duan Qirui still calls him "Marshal Yuan", which is very revealing about the attitude of Beiyang officers.

There was no other way, so Li Yu had no choice but to continue teaching Wu Peifu, Sun Chuanfang, and Li Jinglin.

Li Yu went into depth on what he talked about before, especially on ballistics and surveying.But half of the course was about mathematics, and it was quite hard for them to listen.

Fortunately, both Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang were "good students". They never forgot to ask Teacher Li for advice after class, and finally kept up with the progress.

These two courses are very important for army non-commissioned officers. Ballistics is about artillery. Influenced by some imprecise war movies, many people think that artillery is just for fire support in modern wars. But in fact, whether it is World War I or World War II, artillery is He is the absolute god of land warfare.

Beiyang naturally knew this, so it raised the status of artillery to a very high level, and the status of artillery commanders was equally high.

Surveying and mapping are also very important. If the map is not drawn well, you will be blind.

Although the subject was not pure military science, students such as Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang, as well as Duan Qirui and others, all respected Li Yu very much.

-

After returning to the capital, Teacher Li's task was still not over. He had to go to Yingtai to give Guangxu extra lessons.

Guangxu's current physical condition was already very poor. He asked Li Yu a lot about Western biology and medicine.

Li Yu didn't understand medicine and could only give a rough idea.

Even if you understand, it's useless. Guangxu obviously didn't die normally.

There was nothing he could do about the sickly Guangxu in front of him.

Guangxu finally said weakly: "Master Emperor, I hope you will bring the latest Western medicine next time. I don't believe it can't be cured."

Li Yu squinted his eyes and motioned to Eunuch Cui who was watching at the door.

Guangxu suddenly roared at Eunuch Cui: "Do you want me to die quickly?!"

Cui Yugui hurriedly kowtowed and said: "Long live my Lord, how dare you have such an idea? I hope you live a long life."

Guangxu was so angry that he collapsed on the ground, coughing and his face turned black.

Li Yu wanted to ask more questions, but Cui Yugui said, "Master Emperor, it's time for us to leave."

Li Yu could only leave, but he could not intervene in the most important court political struggle of the Qing Dynasty.

And there are many people who want Guangxu dead, not just Cixi.

Yuan Shikai also had a huge motive, because Guangxu did not dare to touch Cixi, and what he hated most was Yuan Shikai.If Guangxu regains power, he will definitely be determined to kill Yuan Shikai.

Later, when Zaifeng became the regent, he also thought about killing Yuan Shikai, but was persuaded to stop.

Guangxu couldn't persuade him, but once he really wanted to kill Yuan Shikai, Beiyang would definitely not be able to sit still, and the Qing Dynasty might overturn early.

Of course, these are just speculations. Chaos theory can affect the whole body, and no one can guarantee what will happen.It would be very difficult to handle if Yuan Shikai became emperor for a few more years.

(End of this chapter)