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

Zhang Shizhao counted on his fingers and found that there were quite a few disciples of Zhang Taiyan in the capital, so he planned to invite a less famous one to give them a try first.

He called He Xuanshi and Hu Renyuan: "You two know Shen Yinmo and ask him to teach Chinese."

Zhang Shizhao only served as acting principal for two months, and was succeeded by He Xianshi, who graduated from Tokyo Imperial University in Engineering.

He Jueshi agreed: "Brother Shen is a good candidate."

Then Zhang Shizhao said to Li Yu: "Everyone who has studied in Japan knows the reputation of Academician Li. As long as you show your face casually, he will not sell my face, but he will also sell your face."

Li Yu smiled and said, "I've become a face-seller."

-

They met Shen Yinmo who was writing in a small house. Just by looking at the posture of holding the pen, he looked like an ordinary person.

Shen Yinmo is now well-known in the calligraphy world, and together with Yu Youren from the south, he is known as the "Southern Yu Bei Shen".

Shen Yinmo knew a few of them, so he put down his pen and said, "Academician Li, Xiehou (characterized by He Xianshi), Cishan (characterized by Hu Renyuan), why are you here?"

Hu Renyuan said: "Please go to Peking University to be a teacher."

Shen Yinmo knew that Peking University originated from the Capital University and was the ancestral home of universities across the country. He quickly refused and said: "I am not qualified to be a university lecturer."

He Jueshi said: "When Mr. Lin Shu lectures in the Chinese Department, he just talks about novels casually. There is nothing difficult."

Shen Yinmo was stunned and said half-jokingly: "If you just talk about novels, then I can do that too."

He Jueshi said: "If you can tell me, that's great, I wish you all! We'll go through the entry procedures for you when we get back."

Shen Yinmo didn't expect him to be serious: "I just said it casually, why did you take it seriously?"

He Jueshi said: "Not only you, but also all the Zhangmen disciples will be invited to Peking University in the future."

Shen Yinmo said embarrassedly: "Although I really want to learn from Mr. Taiyan, my time in Japan is too short and I haven't had time to learn anything from Mr. Taiyan."

He Jueshi didn't care about this. With Shen Yinmo's abilities, he was qualified regardless of whether he was a disciple of the Zhang Sect or not.

Mainly, he really didn't like Lin Shu's teaching style. It was too casual and his English was not good, yet he taught foreign novels in class.

"Peking University now needs teachers like you who have studied abroad and seen the world, and who also have profound academic skills." He Jueshi said.

Shen Yinmo said: "But I can't speak and I can't teach."

Hu Renyuan lightly touched Li Yu with his elbow.

So Li Yu said: "Brother Shen, don't worry, as long as there is ink in your stomach, you can learn to teach in a few days."

Shen Yinmo said: "Academician Li Da, you are a great scholar, and what you study is the way of science, which is different."

Li Yu asked: "What's the difference?"

"There is no dispute in science. If you know how to know, you will be strong if you are strong," Shen Yinmo said. "Chinese liberal arts is different. I heard that there are many old gentlemen at Peking University, many of whom are graduates of the Tongcheng School. As a young man like me, I went there. They definitely look down on me."

Hu Renyuan said: "We invite you here to introduce new forces and slowly replace those old gentlemen."

Shen Yinmo sensed the gunpowder of Peking University's "old and new war" from his words, and muttered: "This..."

He Jueshi said: "With the new dynasty and the new atmosphere, how can it still be justified according to the old system of the former Qing Dynasty?"

Shen Yinmo couldn't control them, so he had to say: "Then I'll give it a try. If it doesn't work, I'll quit and let a real Zhang Sect disciple take my place."

He Jueshi smiled and said: "That's right, how will you know if it works if you don't try it!"

On the other side, Zhang Shizhao asked Wu Zhihui to invite Zhang Taiyan's disciple Zhu Xizu.

Zhu Xizu came to Beijing to attend a phonetic alphabet conference hosted by the Ministry of Education. Unexpectedly, Cai Yuanpei resigned and moved south during the meeting.

In short, since Yan Fu resigned from Peking University, these young Peking University administrators immediately began to change the teaching team of Peking University.

The three presidents Zhang Shizhao, He Liushi and Hu Renyuan laid a certain foundation for Cai Yuanpei's future reforms.

The focus of the exchange is liberal arts, because this is where the largest number of pre-Qing classics scholars have gathered.

Zhang Shizhao was well chosen. He could compete with them in terms of Chinese studies. The only ones who left them speechless were the disciples of the Zhang family.

Zhang Taiyan and his disciples represented the highest level in the field of Chinese studies in the early years of the Republic of China. These disciples were generally divided into three groups.

One faction is the conservative faction, represented by Huang Kan, a direct disciple of Zhang Taiyan. Huang Kan learned the most from Zhang Taiyan, and even inherited the title of "madman". The characteristic of the conservatives is that they accept the old as their own.

The second faction is the Kaixin faction, represented by Qian Xuantong, who is known as "Xuantong who doubts the ancients", so he was the main force in advocating the abolition of Chinese characters.

The third faction, let’s call it the centrist, is represented by Ma Yuzao and has no obvious tendency.

Although they were divided into several factions, after a large number of disciples of Mr. Taiyan's disciples poured into Peking University, they all adopted a unanimous position against Yan Fu's old men, believing that those old men should give up their positions.

As a "non-direct disciple", Shen Yinmo also stood on their side.

They want to change the teaching staff of Peking University so much, but they have no choice but to do so.

As mentioned before, there were too many bad habits in the old days of Beijing Normal University. As the saying goes, everyone is a teacher. If the teaching team cannot represent the new era, how can Peking University be the ancestor of universities in the country?

Some old teachers from Peking University still adhere to many private school habits when giving lectures. For example, there is an old geography teacher who never shows his lecture notes and reference books to his students because he believes that these must be kept confidential. Otherwise, how can he teach if the students read them in advance?

Little do you know that the books in the library are public.

——By the way, I almost forgot that libraries are also a new thing.

Anyway, there are quite a few such old gentlemen.

After Shen Yinmo and Li Yu entered Peking University, they were quite curious about the place and went to the door of a classroom to take a look at the school conditions inside.

It happened that an English teacher named Xu was in class.

Shen Yinmo listened for a minute or two and then shook his head and walked away. He said to Li Yu: "This teacher is obviously Chinese. Why does he say 'our Western country'? Could it be that he grew up in Nanyang like Mr. Gu Hongming?"

Li Yu said: "Mr. Gu's level is much higher than him, and if you see him, you will never hear him say 'we are from the Western Kingdom'."

Shen Yinmo said: "Then Mr. Gu should be allowed to come back to teach."

New teachers were introduced, and the acting principal Zhang Shizhao held an academic affairs meeting.

Teacher Xu, who teaches English, was also present. When it was his turn to introduce himself, he spoke English again.

Shen Yinmo frowned and asked directly: "Of course I am not proficient in English, but at this moment, is it London or New York? If English is spoken at the Academic Affairs Meeting, I will not attend."

Li Yu felt happy because his temper matched his appetite.

Teacher Xu said: "New teacher, don't you know, only by speaking English can you prove your proficiency. And foreigners' knowledge can only be taught in English."

Li Yu suddenly said leisurely: "When I teach radio in class, I always use Chinese." Teacher Xu was stunned for a moment. He did not dare to confront Li Yu, so he could only sit down and stop talking.

But this situation will be unavoidable for a long time in the future. Even if more than ten years pass after the May Fourth Movement, universities will still be proud of being able to speak fluently and even give lectures in English.

After Cai Yuanpei became the principal, the situation was alleviated, but he could not change the national trend.

When Xu Shouchang, Lu Xun's classmate and friend, went to the Women's Normal University to be the president in 1928, his inaugural speech was in English. After practicing for several days and nights, he still stuttered on stage.

——It seems that without using English, it is not enough to convince students.

When Zhang Shizhao arranged a teaching position for Shen Yinmo, he added: "You also teach history."

Shen Yinmo said: "That's wrong! What I was asked to teach at that time was Chinese. How could I teach history?"

Zhang Shizhao said: "When Mr. Dewen (Chen Hanzhang) graduates and takes over the history teaching position, you can return to the Chinese Department."

Chen Hanzhang is a great scholar of his generation.

Shen Yinmo was shocked and said: "He is a student? I am a teacher?"

Li Yu looked at it leisurely and said with a smile: "You have just arrived at Peking University. There will be a lot of weird people and strange things in the future, so don't make a fuss."

Shen Yinmo pushed up his round glasses and said in disbelief: "Why does he want to be a student?"

Zhang Shizhao said: "Mr. Dewen has been a student for several years. Although he is a master of Confucian classics, he has always had a desire to be an imperial scholar. Unfortunately, the imperial court abolished the imperial examination early. Mr. Dewen could not forget it. Later he learned that the students of the Capital University were called foreigners. Hanlin, so I must graduate from a university."

There are by no means a handful of people like Chen Hanzhang, but this old man is now 49 years old and still studying at Peking University.

This old gentleman will graduate next year. It is a strange fact that he graduated first in the first history class of Peking University at the age of 50.

Shen Yinmo felt that he couldn't ask too many questions, otherwise he would really not dare to be a teacher at Peking University.

-

After returning to his residence, Li Yu received a telegram from the United States. The sender was Feng Ru, a Chinese aviation pioneer.

Feng Ru was a staunch patriot, and he couldn't bear it anymore and had to return to serve his country.

Li Yu has allowed him to study in the United States for one and a half years longer than in history, and with a large amount of funding, his aircraft development capabilities have reached the mainstream level of the American Aeronautics Association.

Moreover, Feng Ru also obtained the Class A pilot certificate from the American Aeronautical Association.

Feng Ru not only returned to China, but also planned to move the factory back.

Li Yu must do his best to help, and just as the cruise ship came in handy, he directly arranged to bring back an aircraft factory!

At the same time, Li Yu asked Feng Ru to recruit all the technicians in the factory, including several American technicians, and the salary would be negotiable.

After answering the telegram to Feng Ru, Li Yu went to Yuan Shikai's presidential palace to submit a letter, hoping to get a piece of land approved as an aircraft factory as soon as possible.

Yuan Shikai and Duan Qirui, a senior official in Zhili, were a little unbelievable after hearing what Li Yu said.

Yuan Shikai said: "Although I know that there is an airplane in the world, I heard that when you were in Japan, you always promoted airships as more promising."

Li Yu felt a little confused. He wanted to fool the Japanese, but he didn't expect that Yuan Shikai had so many eyes and ears that he already knew about this.

Li Yu had no choice but to say: "President, although aircraft have a relatively short history of development, they are more maneuverable and cost less."

Feng Guozhang said: "High mobility and low cost? Doesn't it just meet our needs?"

Yuan Shikai nodded: "I never thought that our own people could build an airplane that could fly into the sky. By the way, I remember that an airplane appeared in a war in Italy last year."

Li Yu knew that without military support, researching aircraft would have a bumpy road ahead under domestic conditions.

Anyway, war has always been the biggest catalyst for things like aircraft and tanks, so Li Yu said: "It is conceivable that aircraft have extremely strong reconnaissance capabilities in war, far exceeding traditional scouts on horseback and on foot."

Yuan Shikai said: "What a good thing! If it can be used together with your radio, there will be eyes on the battlefield."

Li Yu said: "The president is wise."

"Approval! Approval for any amount of land!" Yuan Shikai said, "This expenditure is included in the military budget. Hua Fu (Feng Guozhang), you and the military department will personally supervise this matter."

Feng Guozhang said: "My subordinates are also very interested and even want to fly to the sky to have a look."

It would be better for them to pay, but Li Yu knew very well that the most important thing in engaging in the aircraft industry is to cultivate some aviation talents and accumulate experience. With the financial resources of the Beiyang government, it simply cannot support a large-scale air force.

But the Republic of China was bound to be indispensable for cars, airplanes, and radios. It would be a victory to cultivate talents while producing a small amount of airplanes.

With Yuan Shikai's green light, Li Yu quickly obtained a piece of industrial land in Tianjin.

When he went to inspect, Feng Guozhang still kept asking about the aircraft: "Academician Li Yu, how high can the aircraft made by foreigners fly now?"

Li Yu said: "Two thousand meters is not a big problem, but for safety reasons, we generally don't fly that high."

"Two thousand meters?" Feng Guozhang raised his hand and gestured, and said with a smile, "Academician Li, don't blame me, I have no idea about this kind of height."

Li Yu said: "Mount Tai is 1545 meters tall, which means an airplane can easily fly over Mount Tai."

"Oh my God!" Feng Guozhang said in surprise, "Higher than Mount Tai!"

Li Yu said: "This is where it goes. It won't take long to reach an altitude of 10,000 meters."

Feng Guozhang opened his eyes wide: "Is this okay?"

Li Yu said, "When have I ever deceived someone?"

"Awesome! Awesome!" Feng Guozhang said repeatedly, "No wonder foreigners are so good."

Li Yu said: "What is powerful is not the foreigners, but the technology."

Feng Guozhang suddenly thought: "There is one more thing I am curious about. How can you say so accurately that the height of Mount Tai is 1545 meters? Is this accurate? I heard people say that Mount Tai is three or four thousand meters high."

In the early records of Xu Xiake and others, it was indeed mentioned that Mount Tai was about 3600 meters high.

Li Yu smiled and said: "This is surveying. It's actually not difficult. You only need to know a certain amount of trigonometry. Do you want to learn it?"

Feng Guozhang said: "If I were twenty years younger, I might still learn it, but now I definitely can't understand it."

Yuan Shikai and Feng Guozhang were very generous in allocating land, but they were very short of funds. At first, they only provided 50,000 silver yuan.

Li Yu immediately began to carry out infrastructure construction on this land, waiting for Feng Ru to return so that it could be put into use as soon as possible.

In addition, Li Yu also needs to carry out technical modifications to the radio in order to install the radio on the aircraft.

This matter will sound reasonable in later generations, but it is currently a technical problem.

If this can be done, the safety factor of the aircraft will instantly increase by several dimensions.

(End of this chapter)