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

Lu Bicheng was a little worried about still living in this house with historical connections: "Why don't we stop renting it when it expires?"

Li Yuze said: "Don't worry, the situation will change soon."

Lu Bicheng didn't know that Cixi would die soon, then Puyi ascended the throne, and Zaifeng became the regent. They were busy with political affairs and had no time to deal with this residence.

After arriving in Xinhai, you can buy a residence here at a lower price.

At present, the Qing government has begun to engage in various top-notch bad moves. After many years of efforts, it finally produced the "Outline of the Imperial Constitution". A new era seems to have begun.

It is truly a new era, an era without the Qing Dynasty.

This draft constitution is really ridiculous. It mainly refers to the 1889 constitution of the Japanese Imperial Government, but deletes the relevant provisions in the Japanese constitution that restrict the power of the monarch. It fully embodies the legislation of "the great power is vested in the imperial court". The purpose is wishful thinking and stipulates that the emperor of the Qing Empire will rule the Qing Empire for eternity and will be honored forever, and the sacred dignity of the emperor is inviolable.

It even stipulates that the emperor has the power to promulgate laws, submit bills, convene and dissolve parliament, establish officials and salaries, depose hundreds of divisions, compile military systems, command the army and navy, declare war, make peace, and conclude treaties, etc.

According to this constitution, the emperor's power was hardly restricted. At most, it was a little decentralized.

Liang Qichao, who was so angry that he was far away in Japan and had always supported constitutional reform, immediately yelled when he saw it: "Trying to cover up your ears and eyes, and perfunctory appearance!"

Anyway, Li Yu was happy to see the Qing Dynasty committing suicide, so he just let it go, he had plenty to do.

During this period, Li Yu put the science aspects on hold and concentrated on the progress of engineering subjects, such as automobiles and radios, and also dealt with aviation.

To be honest, engineering research is much more time-consuming than science research because it requires building laboratories and conducting experiments.

Li Yu plans to get some more patents on cars, such as full body coverage.

Come on, come on, it has been decades since the car was born, and there is still no full-coverage car body.

Either it is a complete convertible; or it is like a European taxi, with a closed compartment and an unenclosed cockpit, and the design is greatly influenced by horse-drawn carriages.

But the convertible has a very big flaw: when it's windy or rainy, driving becomes a very embarrassing thing.

Of course, designing a closed carriage is not difficult in itself, and it is even more of an aesthetic category. What needs to be done is industrial design, and industrial design is usually a major offered by the Academy of Fine Arts. How could Li Yu understand it.

Therefore, what Li Yu wants to solve is actually a technical problem - an unavoidable problem in a closed carriage, that is, noise and vibration are amplified.

To solve the problem of noise and vibration, it is necessary to invent a balance shaft without making major improvements to the engine.

Originally, these designs would not come out until one or two years later, but Li Yu still had to grab the patent rights so that he could collect the royalties from major car companies...

These two patents are innovative moves from scratch and will soon be adopted by all car companies.

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In addition, Zhan Tianyou also found Li Yu.

No need to guess, Li Yu knew that he came because he encountered some technical difficulties in building the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway.

Since this railway was all built by the Chinese themselves, Zhan Tianyou has always been the leader, and it is difficult to describe the sadness.

He knew that Li Yu had many achievements in the engineering field, and now he finally had someone to talk to.

After Zhan Tianyou arrived at his house, Li Yu poured him a cup of tea and said first, "Congratulations to Brother Zhan on your promotion to the General Office of Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway."

Zhan Tianyou sighed: "After being promoted, there are a lot of troubles. I used to only take care of technical issues, but now I have to take care of everything. I wish I had another head!"

Li Yule said: "Being a project manager now is of course different from being a chief technical engineer before."

Under this shabby roof in the late Qing Dynasty, most people only wanted to get money when they were promoted, but Zhan Tianyou was promoted to get work.

Zhan Tianyou took a sip of tea and continued: "Brother Shucai, I heard that foreigners have developed some very powerful engineering tools that can greatly save construction time. Do you have any channels to buy some?"

There is currently no good on-site assembly process. Li Yu said: "Of course it can be done, but it's not easy to transport a machine that is too big."

"I don't choose how many there are," Zhan Tianyou said.

"It's easy! I'll send a telegram to the United States immediately and ask them to ship as many new engineering equipment as possible." Li Yu greeted Fengling and asked her to send a telegram to Situ Meitang and David Buick and Zou Zhou in Detroit. telegraph.

Zhan Tianyou was surprised: "Brother Shucai actually has a secretary who understands English and can send reports! It's not easy!"

"You're talking about Fengling. She used to be a prostitute. She came to work in my house a few years ago. She is very smart. Her English skills are now as good as those of university students, and she can send telegrams very quickly." Li Yu explain.

Zhan Tianyou praised: "Brother Shucai is surrounded by tigers, hidden dragons, and even now, I don't even have an assistant who understands English."

"That's right!" Li Yu suddenly thought, called Fengling back and warned, "Tell David Buick and Zou Zhou to buy a batch of diesel engines and ordinary cars."

After finishing speaking, Li Yu turned back to Zhan Tianyou and said, "These two things are easy to buy."

"A car?" Zhan Tianyou said, "Is that the strange carriage that can drive on its own in your house?"

"Yes," Li Yu said, "we can use it to modify it into some trucks, cranes and forklifts."

Zhan Tianyou only knew that there were large-scale machinery in the mining field, but when he was still studying in the United States, railway construction still basically relied on human and animal power.

Li Yu took out paper and started drawing for him, "These machines are not complicated."

Although Li Yu's paintings were crooked and unattractive, Zhan Tianyou could still see what they were for at a glance and praised: "Brother Shucai's brains are indeed the most intelligent in the world. He can think of such wonderful things!"

It would be better to have an excavator, but the technical content of this thing is much higher than that of trucks, cranes, and forklifts.

There were excavators in Europe and the United States many years ago, but they were basically only used in canal construction and were not very flexible.

Li Yu now acted as the technical engineer of General Zhan's office and gave him a detailed study and introduction to the simple principles of several engineering equipment.

A month later, the cars, diesel engines, etc. arrived and were taken directly to the construction site for modification.

Fortunately, the Jewish workers from Germany knew how to machine and made rapid progress.

Zhan Tianyou was very happy: "Scrubbing has helped me a lot! I want to promote this achievement to the construction of Jinpu Railway."

Li Yu also hopes that these domestic railways will be repaired a few years in advance, saying: "By then, I will save a lot of time traveling back and forth from Beijing to Shanghai."

Although Zhan Tianyou has become the general manager, he cannot immediately withdraw the cash. He can only say: "Brother Shucai, I will repay the funds you advanced in installments."

Li Yu knew Zhan Tianyou was a good person and said easily: "Don't be in a hurry."

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It’s almost time for the exam to study in the United States this year, and the exam is still scheduled in Shijia Hutong.Due to its extremely reputable reputation, more students took the exam this year, more than 2000 of them.

Fortunately, Li Yu, Tang Guoan and others had anticipated this in advance and rented the large classroom in the Imperial College as an examination room.

Originally, Guozi was very reluctant after hearing about this incident, but fortunately Zhang Zhidong came forward to help mediate.

As before, there are many exam subjects: English literature and composition, Chinese, history, geography, world geography, algebra, plane geometry, trigonometry, ancient European history, French (or German, Latin), elementary chemistry, elementary physics, and physiology There are more than ten courses in total, and you must pass all of them.

Taking into account the varying levels of candidates taking the exam, Li Yu and Tang Guoan decided to only take the two most basic subjects of English and Chinese in the first test. Only those who pass the test can continue to take the subsequent science test.

After selection, less than 400 people were left to participate in the re-examination.

After the first exam that day, several people who did well went to a restaurant for dinner.

Hu Shi said happily: "I didn't expect that I got a perfect score in the Chinese test. Although my English score was only 60, my average score reached 80."

This preliminary test score ranked tenth among the applicants.

Zhao Yuanren asked: "The Chinese language topic 'No rules can form a circle' is still very difficult to write. It's surprising that Brother Hu can get full marks."

Hu Shi said proudly: "Although I don't have the talent and reputation of a three-and-a-half-year-old man, I like to read miscellaneous books on weekdays, so I wrote a short article about textual research."

Zhao Yuanren was well-known in the Republic of China and was known as the "Father of Modern Chinese Linguistics". He wrote "Ji Ji Fighting the Chicken".

The old man Sanban refers to Zhao Yi, who wrote the popular poem "The poems of Li and Du have been passed down by thousands of mouths, and they are no longer new. Talented people have emerged from generation to generation, and each has led the way for hundreds of years!"

Zhao Yuanren is a descendant of Zhao Yi.

Hu Shi said: "Anyway, the test has been completed, and I am not afraid to say it. I wrote in the article, 'The work of rules cannot be tested. The work of rules, is it at the end of the Zhou Dynasty?'

Next, I said that the method of making circles in "Zhou Bi Suan Jing" proves that he did not know how to use rules to make circles at that time; and Confucius said "not to exceed the rules", but did not use rules at the same time. Mozi and Mencius began to use rules together, which proves that It is a rule to leave late. "

Zhao Yuanren was surprised: "Brother Hu actually wrote a textual research article on the Qianjia period."

Hu Shile said: "It is absolutely just a whimsical research at the time."

Zhao Yuanren said: "It shows that the grader also has a penchant for textual research."

The person who read the Chinese test paper happened to be Gu Hongming. He really liked all kinds of textual research. After seeing it, he felt that it could even be related to ancient Chinese arithmetic in the Chinese test, which was worthy of praise, so he gave it full marks.

Li Yu read the English paper and followed a completely selfless path.

Hu Shi said: "Originally, I used the name 'Hu Hongying' in school. This time I went north to take the exam. I was afraid that I would not pass the exam and make my friends and students laugh, so I temporarily changed my name to 'Hu Shi'. It has brought me such a Good luck, from now on, my name will be Hu Shi!"

The late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China were great, and people could change their names so casually. Hu Shi changed his name even more casually than Li Siguang.

Mei Yiqi reminded: "Brother Hu, how are you preparing for the science subjects in five days?"

"It's just a matter of time. I can handle biology, history, and geography, but I really can't learn mathematics," Hu Shi said dejectedly. "It's really frustrating."

Jiang Lifu on the side said: "If it's mathematics, I can help you with tutoring."

Hu Shi's eyes lit up: "Brother Jiang is good at mathematics?"

Jiang Lifu said: "I can't say I'm good at it, but at least it's more than enough for exams."

Hu Shi said happily: "If I pass the exam, I'll treat Brother Jiang to drinks for three days!"

Jiang Lifu said: "If you want to drink it, you have to go to the United States to drink it."

Hu Shi saw that he was so confident, and he was also infected: "Then let's go drink foreign wine."

Of course Jiang Lifu was good at mathematics. He was a great mathematician during the Republic of China.

His test scores were equally good. After arriving in the United States, he first entered Berkeley, then the top Harvard University, and then continued his studies at the University of Göttingen.

After Jiang Lifu returned to China, he taught several more famous students such as Chen Shengshen, Wu Dayou, and Yang Zhenning.

When receiving tutoring from Jiang Lifu, Hu Shi was also smart and said to him: "Brother Jiang, I only have four or five days. I don't expect to be able to solve all the math problems. You only teach me the basic questions and I will be fine if I pass."

Jiang Lifu said: "Just trying to pass the exam does not seem to be the purpose of our studies."

"It doesn't matter," Hu Shi said. "Anyway, after I get the qualification to study in the United States, I will probably never deal with mathematics and physics again in my life. By then, they will know me, and I will no longer recognize them."

After taking the second exam, Hu Shi felt a little depressed and felt that he did not do very well.

In the evening of the next day, after the scoring was completed, Li Yu personally posted the list in Shijia Hutong.

When he heard that the results were released, Hu Shi, Zhao Yuanren, Jiang Lifu, Zhu Kezhen, Mei Yiqi and others got on a rickshaw to watch.

It was getting a little dark at this time, so Hu Shi took out a lamp and looked directly from the bottom of the list - he was very self-aware and knew that even if he was admitted, his name would not be at the top.

However, after reading the entire list, his name was not included, and Hu Shi was immediately disappointed.

Jiang Lifu patted him on the shoulder and said, "Look, Brother Zhao is ranked second on the list."

Only then did Hu Shi realize that the list he had just looked at was just a preliminary list, not the main list.

No. 1 on the main list is Yang Xiren, and No. 2 is Zhao Yuanren.

Soon Jiang Lifu, Zhu Kezhen, and Mei Yiqi all discovered their names.

Hu Shi also started reading from the end of the main list. Suddenly his eyes lit up and he saw a name that seemed to be his own. But upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a person with the same surname named "Huda".

Fortunately, just a few names ahead, we reach Hu Shi.

Hu Shi breathed a sigh of relief, and his mood turned from cloudy to clear: "Brother Jiang's guidance is indeed reliable! Let me tell you, I got a geometry problem right that I have never gotten right before. Even I feel incredible, God should Enjoy your face."

Jiang Lifu said: "That question is much simpler than the one I tutored you on."

"Performing abnormally, performing abnormally!" Hu Shi laughed, and then said to Zhao Yuanren, "Brother Zhao, how long have you been studying secretly to get such a high score?"

Zhao Yuanren said: "I went to a new-style school, and I learned these exam subjects when I was studying in Nanjing."

Hu Shi said: "Your school is so good at teaching!"

Hu should be grateful for the expanded enrollment quota, otherwise he would have to wait until at least the second year to be admitted.