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

Liang Qichao sent several of his sons to Tsinghua University. The Liang family’s tutors were very good, and his sons were outstanding. They were also top students when they entered Tsinghua University.

As for Cao's son, he is indeed not very successful and did not get the quota to study in the United States.

Not only him, but Zhang Zongxiang also sent his son to Tsinghua School two years later, where he continued to attend until the May Fourth period.

But at that time, Cao and Zhang's reputations were so bad that a group of students rushed to Zhang Zongxiang's son's dormitory to settle the score with him.

Fortunately, this guy's feet are slippery with oil.

But the students were angry and smashed all his bedding.

At that time, Liang Shiqiu happened to be roommates with Zhang's son. When he came back and saw it, he thought he shouldn't do this.

Not long after, Zhang's son contracted scarlet fever and died.

Liang Qichao was very excited after returning to China. Although revolution was not his original intention, seeing that the situation was so good and that Yuan Shikai, a realist and a powerful man, became president, he felt that there was great hope for the future.

"Brother Shucai, do you have mahjong at home?" Liang Qichao asked.

Li Yu shook his head: "I don't play mahjong very much."

"You don't play much? You know how to play? Come on, I have mahjong, let's go play it twice!" Liang Qichao said, "It's not easy to find poker friends in Japan. It really suffocates me to death!"

Liang Qichao pulled Cao Rulin and called his apprentice Jiang Baili.

Jiang Baili is very capable and has now become a senior army adviser to Yuan Shikai's presidential palace.

After all, Jiang Baili took first place when he was studying at the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School, and he was an absolutely talented military student.

Jiang Baili respected his teacher Liang Qichao very much. When he heard that he was returning to China, he rushed over quickly.

"Teacher, you have finally returned to China!" Jiang Baili said excitedly, "We are more relieved to have you back to take charge of the overall situation."

Liang Qichao said: "What kind of overall situation can I preside over? I am just a scholar."

Despite what he said, Liang Qichao is still quite ambitious about his career.

Jiang Baili said: "Teacher, do you want to see the responsible cabinet?"

Liang Qichao said: "Don't worry, I heard that many people are resigning now, and the responsible cabinet has not been reorganized yet. Taking advantage of this opportunity, we have to do something serious."

Jiang Baili said seriously: "What's the business?"

Liang Qichao said happily: "Play mahjong!"

Jiang Baili was stunned and was already pulled into Li Yu's car by Liang Qichao.

“It’s not often you get the opportunity to play mahjong with Academician Li Yu, who is the best in mathematics and physics in the world today!” Liang Qichao said.

Jiang Baili said: "Academician Li Yu is proficient in mathematics and physics. I heard that playing cards involves probability. Shouldn't we lose miserably?"

Li Yu laughed and said: "I am just a layman, I just know the rules. And I have never heard that if you are good at math, you must be good at playing mahjong."

Liang Qichao said: "That's better! Otherwise, the money I brought today wouldn't be enough!"

Liang Qichao was addicted to playing cards and nothing could stop him, so the others had no choice but to accompany him to play a few rounds.

Li Yu drove the car, Liang Qichao sat in the passenger seat, followed by Cao Rulin and Jiang Baili.

Liang Qichao asked again: "Are Zhangmen disciples being reused now?"

Jiang Baili said: "Not yet."

Liang Qichao said: "Your official position is already very high and your future is bright."

Jiang Baili said: "This disciple actually has no interest in becoming an official, but President Yuan Da said that he wants me to be a principal in the future."

"Principal? Military school?" Liang Qichao asked.

Jiang Baili said: "Army Officer School."

Liang Qichao knew his disciple very well and said: "It's a good place, just become the principal. With your personality and academic ability, you are more suitable in the school."

Li Yu said: "Does Baili still have contact with his classmates and alumni in Tokyo?"

Jiang Baili said: "There are very few of them. They are separated by an ocean and communication is inconvenient."

Li Yu said: "As for the Army, President Yuan Da still wants to learn from Japan. If we can maintain good contact with Japanese alumni, we will be a good network in the future. I can sponsor a few wireless telegraph machines in the school."

Jiang Baili said: "I would like to express my gratitude in advance on behalf of President Yuan Da and General Duan."

Li Yu just made a random excuse. The most important thing was to let Jiang Baili know himself and his enemy.

Because those alumni of Jiang Baili are quite extraordinary, Hideki Tojo was in the same year as him; Hobumi Yamashita and Yuki Anan were in the same year as him.

In addition, Okamura Neji, Doihara Kenji, and Itagaki Seishiro are only one class higher than him;

These people were the absolute core senior officials of the Japanese Army during World War II, and most of them were Class A war criminals (Okamura Neiji, an old bastard, was protected by the National Government and escaped sanctions. During the War of Liberation, he even served as a senior adviser to Chiang Kai-shek). .

Knowing yourself and your enemy has always been an absolute truth in military affairs. It will always be helpful to know more about these old bastards.

Li Yu originally thought that because Liang Qichao was so keen on mahjong, he must be very good at playing mahjong, but he didn't expect it to be so bad.

He was just a beginner, but he fought back and forth with him. If Jiang Baili hadn't given in deliberately, Liang Qichao would have lost the most.

But Liang Qichao is more playful the more he plays, and he will continue to play even if he loses.

In the end, Cao Rulin won the most.

Liang Qichao was still very interested: "We will make an appointment next time if we have a chance!"

Li Yu smiled and said, "Don't forget about going to Tsinghua University to give a speech."

Liang Qichao said: "It's easy to talk! I already thought about what to talk about when I was playing cards just now."

"Did you think about it while playing cards?" Li Yu was stunned.

Liang Qichao said: "Yes! Playing cards is very important and can inspire my ideas. So playing cards is work, and work is playing cards."

Li Yu touched his head. Fortunately, these words came out of his mouth.

Liang Qichao's addiction to cards lasted throughout his life. He also famously said: "Only by reading can one forget to play cards, and only by playing cards can one forget to read."

-

The next day, Li Yuxian came to Tsinghua School to welcome the new students and met the young Wen Yiduo. They were quickly assigned to dormitories.

After one more class, Li Yu was ready to return.

As soon as we arrived at the entrance of the alley, we were stopped by an old man and a young man.

The middle-aged man asked: "Is this Dongchang Hutong?"

Li Yu replied: "That's right."

The middle-aged man asked: "Where is Academician Li Yu's home?"

Li Yu said: "I am Li Yu."

The middle-aged man said: "So you are Academician Li Yu, you are really young!" Li Yu asked: "What do you two want from me?"

The middle-aged man said: "That's it. I just came to Beijing from Qingdao with my child. I want my child to go to a school. But the child is arrogant and unwilling to go to a casual school. The newspaper said that Academician Li Da is keen on Education, so I want to ask you."

Li Yu asked: "What is the child's academic ability?"

The middle-aged man said: "This child studies very well, and is good at Chinese studies and English."

"You're quite talented," Li Yu asked the student, "What's your name?"

The young man replied: "My name is Sun Liren."

Well, he later became the commander of the New First Army of the Expeditionary Force.

Li Yu asked: "How old are you?"

Sun Liren said: "Twelve years old."

Li Yu said: "If you are a little young, the Army Officer School should not accept you. But if you pass the exam, you can definitely go to Tsinghua School."

Sun Liren's father asked: "Isn't it okay to take the exam now?"

Li Yu said: "Tsinghua University recruits students from all provinces across the country. Wherever you have a student status, you can take the exam."

Sun Liren's father said: "We are from Anhui."

Li Yu said: "Yes, there are quotas in Anhui, and exams will be organized this year. You can go to school as early as next year at the earliest."

Sun Liren's father asked again: "Is Tsinghua University good?"

Li Yu said: "If you have good grades, you can study in the United States."

After hearing this, Sun Liren immediately said: "Then I will prepare for the exam!"

Sun Liren's father said: "We listen to Academician Li!"

Li Yu said: "We will meet again in class at Tsinghua University in the future."

Li Yu was not worried at all that he would not pass the exam, because Sun Liren was also a domineering student.

He will be admitted to Tsinghua University with the best score in Anhui, just one year earlier than in history.

-

Time soon came to August, and Yuan Shikai invited Zhongshan to come to Beijing to meet.

Sun is the spiritual leader of the southern revolutionaries. Although Yuan Shikai is now the president, he does not quite believe that he is really willing to give up power.

At the same time, Yuan also invited Huang Xing. Previously, Huang Xing was determined not to be the chief of staff, and Yuan Shikai always felt uneasy.

But Huang Xing did not set out with Sun, because Zhang Zhenwu, one of the "Three Wus" of the Wuchang Uprising, had just been assassinated in August, and the alleged perpetrators were Yuan Shikai and Li Yuanhong.

After the incident, the "Civil Rights News" quickly published an article calling on the revolutionaries and the people across the country to use force to overthrow Yuan Shikai's rule, saying: "A million words of beautiful articles are not as good as a twig."

The Senate also conducted impeachment, but Yuan Shikai passed the matter to the cabinet. Lu Zhengxiang served as prime minister for two months and was forced to step down.

After Sun arrived in Beijing, he received a very grand welcome. He entered the city from Zhengyang Gate in a gold-lacquered and red-wheeled double carriage specially designed for the president. Along the way, there were flags, colorful booths and Beijing citizens who lined up to welcome him.

Yuan Shikai hosted a banquet that night.

As a political veteran, Yuan Shikai spoke very measuredly: "Mr. Sun, in the early days of the Republic of China, finance and diplomacy were very difficult. I hope you can help me from time to time."

Sun was very moved after hearing this and said: "Nowadays, business everywhere is in decline, industry is backward, and people are struggling to make a living. I have always advocated the Three People's Principles of nation, civil rights, and people's livelihood. Now that the nation and civil rights have been won, the next step is people's livelihood."

Yuan Shikai said: "Mr. Sun really cares about the world. Dare he ask how to achieve people's livelihood?"

Sun said: "The ancients said that it is easy to conquer the world, but difficult to defend it. People's livelihood is to defend the country, and to make the country prosperous."

Yuan Shikai said: "I understand, otherwise I wouldn't say that having children should be like Sun Zhongmou."

Sun said: "Saving people's livelihood lies in vigorously establishing industries to revitalize the economy. And all kinds of industries are inseparable from transportation. So I hope to devote myself to railway construction."

Yuan Shikai said loudly: "Okay! That's great! I think no one can hold the position of National Railway Supervisor except Mr.

Sun said: "You have experience in training troops. If you train a million troops, I will build a hundred thousand miles of railways, and the country will be fine."

Yuan Shikai's city was very deep. He smiled slightly after hearing his words: "Sir, it is probably not a problem to build a hundred thousand miles of railway, but it is not easy for Yuan to build an army of one million."

Sun Zhen believed that Yuan's thoughts had undergone fundamental changes, and he never thought that one day he would restore the imperial system.

Mr. Sun is a pure idealist. He only wants to make the country strong and does not care about power or status at all. A few days later, a group of big men from the Tongmenghui established the Kuomintang Party at the Huguang Hall in Beijing.

Sun was elected as the chairman, but he knew very well that Song Jiaoren was more capable in party matters, so he made Song Jiaoren the acting chairman soon, and he devoted himself to the railway industry.

Sun was worthy of being called the Washington of the Republic of China. After the founding of the Republic of China, he retired honorably and devoted himself wholeheartedly to the economy and people's livelihood.

He also convened engineers such as Zhan Tianyou and Shen Qi at the Huguang Guild Hall, and also called Li Yu and other leaders in industry and commerce to study railway planning together.

Although Li Yu didn't know how to build a railway, as a time traveler, he knew the future railway situation very well.

However, Li Yu knew better that transportation, as an infrastructure, requires huge investment, and that there is no immediate income at all, so it can only rely on government funding.

But with the current financial resources of the Beiyang government, it is impossible to build railways. If you have money, you must first recruit troops.

Therefore, Li Yu was in low spirits during the meeting and did not say much.

Sun Ze and Zhan Tianyou had a very lively chat, and Zhan Tianyou wrote something for him on a map: "Now that we have a main line running from north to south, we urgently need an east-west traffic lifeline."

Sun said: "I think this railway can choose to start from Lianyungang, pass through Xuzhou and connect with the Jinpu Railway, continue westward to connect with the Beijing-Hankou Railway, and then continue westward all the way to Lanzhou."

This railway is the famous Longhai Line. In terms of planning, they studied it very accurately.

Then they continued to study the specific railway direction, geographical terrain, construction difficulties, etc.

Sun noticed that Li Yu hadn't spoken much, so he raised his head and asked, "Sucai, what do you think?"

Li Yu could only say: "Of course there is no problem with this line."

Sun Dao: "I also think there is no problem. Once this line is repaired, it will be like our own Pacific Railway!"

Li Yu said: "The north has always lacked a major artery. The Yellow River has no shipping capacity. It would be of great significance to have a railway running from east to west."

Zhan Tianyou also said: "I have always had this idea, but never dared to say it out loud. Today I see Mr. Sun and I can speak freely. It's so happy!"

Sun Dou is full of ambition: "I have studied the history of the United States. The first step in their growth was to build railways. It took them several decades to catch up with the United Kingdom. We can completely copy their successful experience."

Li Yu sighed softly, not knowing what to say.

To be honest, you may not believe that during the entire Republic of China period, that is, from 1912 to 1949, if we do not count the railways built by the Japanese in Northeast China, the railways built by the Beiyang government and the Republic of China government in the past few decades were not as much as those built in the last ten years of the late Qing Dynasty. Practice a lot!

Judging from the data, the Qing Dynasty built a total of about 9100 kilometers of railways, basically all of which were built in the last ten years.

During the Republic of China, a total of about 7000 kilometers were built (another more than 6000 kilometers were built by the Japanese in Northeast China).

Sun Shi died in 1925. From the first year of the Republic of China to 1925, the Republic of China only built 2000 kilometers of railways in more than ten years.