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

Chapter 507 Evolution
Since the Qing government dissolved the royal cabinet and appointed Yuan Shikai as prime minister with full responsibility for forming the cabinet and taking over the military and political power of the Qing government, Yuan Shikai has become the actual controller of this declining dynasty.

Things went so smoothly after that.

After Yuan Shikai came to power, he played a political card. He first ordered Feng Guozhang to attack Wuchang and achieved great results.

Only Navy Minister Sa Zhenbing, who led the navy up the Yangtze River to Wuhan, chose to abandon the war after exchanging telegrams with his former disciple Li Yuanhong.

As we have said, in the famous Battle of Songhu, the reason why the Kuomintang was unable to defeat the Japanese army despite all its elites resisting at all costs was largely because the Japanese army had the support of naval gunfire.

MacArthur's island-hopping tactics on the Pacific battlefield also relied on extremely terrifying naval gunfire to suppress the Japanese troops on the islands.

The power of naval artillery is so terrifying that it is common for one shell to knock out an entire squadron.

Of course Feng Guozhang knew the power of naval artillery, and he asked the fleet to bombard Wuchang.

Sa Zhenbing, however, had already taken a passive approach at this time and asked the navy to deliberately miss the cannonballs, causing them all to fall into the river embankment and nearby rice fields.

Even British reporters saw the Qing Navy's sabotage attitude.

But no matter what others say, the old man adheres to his own principle - Chinese people do not fight Chinese people!It's worth to admire.

But even if the navy retreated, the Beiyang Army's combat power was still superior to the rebel army. Hankou and Hanyang were quickly captured, leaving only Wuchang among the three towns in Wuhan.

After learning about it, the Qing court immediately gave Feng Guozhang a baron title. Feng Guozhang originally wanted to recover Wuchang in one go, but at this critical juncture, Yuan Shikai asked him to stop the attack.

Originally, the Beiyang Army wanted to continue to capture Wuchang with ease, but Yuan Shikai chose to cease fire due to political considerations. He wanted to use the revolutionary army as a bargaining chip to force the Qing government into palace.

At the same time, he also relied on his status as prime minister of the Qing government to threaten the Revolutionary Party.

He plays both sides with great proficiency.

In fact, the reality is that Yuan Shikai can't fight because he can't win at all. Fifteen of the eighteen provinces in Han Dynasty have declared independence, and it is no longer a Hubei problem.

And the fight lasted for more than a month in Wuhan.

In the more than a month when the imperial army was held back by Li Yuanhong and Huang Xing, more than ten other provinces declared their independence, and they basically relied on uprisings to succeed.

No one expected that things would develop so quickly, and it felt like a sudden illness.

There is only one way for Yuan Shikai to negotiate peace: to negotiate peace with the revolutionary army to obtain a bigger bargaining chip in the future - to force the palace.

This is the trump card in his hand, because the bottom line insisted by the revolutionary army, especially Mr. Sun, is that the monarchy must be overthrown.

If this can be done, Yuan Shikai will definitely have huge political capital, which will be of great benefit to himself.

Therefore, when Yuan Shikai answered why Yang Du gave up the attack on Wuchang, he explained: "I am pulling out a big tree. This 200-year-old tree in the Qing Dynasty is so intertwined that it cannot be pulled out with just strength and method."

Of course, the big tree of the Qing Dynasty was hollowed out time and time again during the Opium War, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the Sino-Japanese War of [-]-[-].The Southeast Mutual Guarantee during the Eight-Power Allied Forces period directly declared that the big tree was only an empty shell and that it was a real "rotten tree".

(If you look at the map, you will understand that the eighteen provinces of the Han Dynasty can be simply understood as the old country of the Ming Dynasty, and they are also the most populous and wealthy areas.

According to the administrative planning of the Qing Dynasty, in the late Qing Dynasty, the eighteen provinces of Han Dynasty, together with the three eastern provinces and Xinjiang Province, were collectively called 22 provinces, and then there were several major vassals such as Mongolia, Qinghai, and Tibet. )
As for why fifteen of the eighteen provinces in Han Dynasty jumped out to independence in such a short period of time, on the one hand, it was the continuation of the mutual guarantee between the Southeast and the Southeast; on the other hand, it was Zaifeng who had done too much, and his political skills were really naive.

After Zhang Zhidong's death, the last straw that maintained the relationship between Manchu and Han ministers had been crushed.

Zaifeng's royal cabinet and the Manchu dignitaries were completely unable to maintain the country's situation, but they were unwilling to give up any power. Even Yuan Shikai was dismissed.

The Han warlords and bureaucrats were extremely dissatisfied with this approach and had long wanted to overturn the table and do it.

Therefore, the new armies in various places rose up quickly, and almost all of them achieved independence easily.

It is said that this is also the reason why there were many warlords in the Republic of China after that. Not only did Beiyang itself split into the three major warlords such as the Zhili, Anhui, and Feng cliques, but also the Beiyang warlords declined in strength after the split, such as Yan Xishan's Jin clique, Cai E, and Tang Jiyao's. The Yunnan Clan, Lu Rongting’s Guangxi Clan, etc. are countless.

But no one can completely control all the forces.

Similarly, with the capabilities of the rebel army, it is difficult to fight against the powerful Beiyang Army.

The revolutionaries are very clear about the changes in the political situation in the north. They know that after the regent returned to the vassal residence, the Qing Dynasty will only have one name left, and whether this name can be retained depends only on Yuan Shikai's attitude.
Therefore, the revolutionary party needs to win over Yuan Shikai and let him complete the step of forcing the palace.

No matter how you say it, the change of dynasty is a major event. At present, the attitude of the great powers is obviously leaning towards Yuan Shikai. Many elites also have this idea. Even "it must be Yuan" has become a popular term.

The domestic situation is generally the same. Although there are still many complex and hidden lines, the main line is very clear - the Qing Dynasty has actually died, and it is just treated as a card by Yuan Shikai.

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On the American side, Sun Wen received several more telegrams. After learning that the domestic situation was excellent, he was not in a hurry to return home. This was because of the attitude of the great powers just mentioned.

He wanted to first carry out diplomatic activities in European and American countries to win support from the great powers for the revolution.

No, it should be said that we hope that the great powers will remain neutral, and the other is to borrow money.

Anyway, Li Yu was not in a hurry to go back. The early years of the Republic of China were the most chaotic and complicated period in the political arena.

Sun and Li Yu went to Europe again, but Sun did not borrow the money.

It's not that the great powers are unwilling to borrow, but that they are sitting on the mountain watching the fight between tigers and need to determine the winner before deciding where to invest.

Therefore, except for obtaining some funds from Zhang Jingjiang in France, not much money was raised.

When Li Yuze was visiting the political arena, he went to the Royal Society to hold a meeting and gave a report.

The Royal Society gave Li Yu a lot of respect, and ordinary members had to hold at least several meetings a year. There was no guarantee that Li Yu could attend even one meeting a year.

However, Li Yu was so powerful in the scientific community that the Royal Society had to give up his reputation and be proud to have an academician like Li Yu.

In addition to the Royal Society, the president of the Royal Astronomical Society also invited Li Yu to participate in an academic seminar.The status of the Royal Astronomical Society is slightly lower than that of the Royal Society, but its influence is not bad in Europe.

The current president of the Astronomical Society is called George Darwin. Yes, he is the son of Darwin who proposed the theory of evolution.

George Darwin was Darwin's second son, but he did not continue to engage in biology, but devoted himself to the field of astronomy. The two had a previous correspondence during the Tunguska incident.

"Dear Academician Li Yu," said George Darwin, "it is an honor to meet you."

Li Yu shook hands with him: "I have always respected the Darwin family and I am very happy to see you."

George Darwin said: "It is because of my father's great reputation that I dare not engage in biology. I have read many botanical works, but I dare not express any opinions on biology."

"Is it because I'm afraid of making mistakes?" Li Yu asked.

"There are considerations in this regard," said George Darwin, "and I know that no matter how hard I try, I can never surpass my father's level. Even he will be criticized by so many people, let alone me? That's why I think The vast universe is a field more worthy of my research, at least no one will point fingers behind my back."

Li Yu said: "It's normal for a big tree to attract the wind."

George Darwin said: "You can't understand the pressure I feel. After hearing too many objections, even I sometimes question whether my father's theory of evolution is correct, and even have the idea of ​​studying primates, but after thinking about it, I forget it. .”

Li Yu said: "If someone puts forward the hypothesis that earth civilization comes from outer space in the future, I think you will have more headaches."

"Oh my God!" George Darwin exclaimed in shock, "Academician Li Yu, I hope you only said this to me. Never let such a conclusion spread, let alone come from an outstanding scientist like you. Everyone really Will believe it! And then question the theory of evolution even more.”

Li Yu smiled and said: "Don't worry, even if it is written as a science fiction novel, it is a bit too advanced."

Among Li Yu's favorite science fiction movies in his previous life, there was one called "Prometheus", which was a prequel to Alien. It was very meaningful and contained the idea that life on earth originated from an alien "engineer race."

Science fiction novels of this level are obviously too advanced, so at most I will just write about the first few Alien films and treat them as ordinary science fiction novels.

George Darwin said: "I invite you here this time because I hope you can write a manuscript."

Li Yu had already guessed it, so he asked: "What kind of manuscript?"

George Darwin said: "Not long ago, I read a report about the Solvay Conference, which mentioned that after the meeting you accidentally talked about a theory called quantum fluctuations, which was specifically used to explain the birth of the universe. .”

Li Yu said: "This can only be regarded as a hypothesis."

George Darwin said: "I understand that it is impossible to study the universe from such a small distance. But I thought of the evolution of celestial bodies that I have been studying. The origin of the universe is too far away for us. But everyone is very interested in how planets such as the Earth and Mars appeared and what their future direction will be. Can Mr. Academician write a paper on this topic?"

What George Darwin raised is a purely academic research question, and it is also one of the issues that the astronomical community is currently paying more attention to.

Of course the scientific community wants to study the source, because they know that it is impossible to predict the future, and now they know the chaos theory proposed by Li Yu. As long as there is a measurement error of ten centimeters in the position of the earth, the direction of any model will be very different. There is no way at all. Possibility of prediction.

Therefore, the scientific community pays more attention to the issue of sources, and then simply infers the general trend in the future based on the sources.

As for ordinary people, they already know how they came to be through the theory of evolution, and it is equally valuable to know more about how they did not exist.

Li Yu felt that George Darwin really meant it. His father studied the theory of human evolution, and he studied the theory of celestial evolution. I wonder if this was another form of inheritance from his father.

Li Yu said: "This is a relatively large paper. The current progress seems to be the planetary star theory of Chamberlain and Moulton in the American astronomy community?"

"Yes," said George Darwin, "I have carefully studied the theory of planetesimals. According to them, a star once traveled several million square kilometers from the sun and then changed its direction and moved away.

When approaching the sun, due to the gravitational force, a large tide is generated on the surface of the sun, causing the part of the sun close to the star and the opposite part to eject a large amount of gas, forming a disk-shaped air mass.

Finally, small solid particles were condensed, which were the embryos of the planet.

Then Jupiter and Saturn were formed in the middle of the particle, and smaller planets were formed at the two ends.

Another part of the particles falls back to the sun, causing the sun to rotate.

The formation process of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn is similar to this. "

This theory is still based on Newtonian classical mechanics, and also takes into account the conservation of momentum, conservation of angular momentum, etc., and has a certain degree of logical self-consistency.

Li Yu said: "President Darwin, astronomy papers often require a lot of observational data, so I may not be able to provide you with the final draft for a while."

George Darwin said: "I am very pleased that you can accept this subject. After all, having an academic giant like you participate in the subject of stellar evolution also means that there is hope for its solution."

He was quite confident in himself. Li Yu said: "I will be in China during this period, and I have also built an observatory. If you can provide some technical and equipment support, it will be of great benefit."

George Darwin said: "That is as it should be."

Li Yu "expanded" and said: "Optical lenses are very delicate. If you can help establish an optical research institution in China, I will be even more grateful."

George Darwin said without hesitation: "I will help you accomplish this."

Li Yu said: "Thank you, Dean Darwin!"

Although optics is a subject that has been studied since the time of Newton who wrote "Optics", it is by no means an ancient knowledge.

Optics has great prospects and great potential for development.Even before Li Yu's time travel, chip manufacturing, the most important representative of high-precision technology in the United States, was in the field of optics, which is the manufacturing of lithography machines that everyone is already familiar with.

However, judging from the current point of time, optics is indeed not a knowledge that everyone hides, it can be said to be an "explicit science".

To put it simply, everyone is almost on the same starting line now. The basic theory of optics is relatively clear in all countries. The main thing is whether the technology is advanced or not.

Li Yu quickly took this opportunity to use the power of Britain and the United States to support domestic optical development. It was a great opportunity. At least a talented team would be left behind. Even if he went through war in the future, he would at least be able to retain the fire of hope.

George Darwin did not know what Li Yu had in mind, because in the eyes of Europeans, astronomical observation is a matter that should be "globalized" and is in their own interests. Having an observatory in China is not a problem.

　Um, I've deleted a lot, otherwise I won't be able to post it. I'll start to make up for it tomorrow~~~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)