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

Li Yu also handled the affairs of some industrial associations, mostly giving some reasonable suggestions to business operators.

With the name of the president of the industrial association, they will more or less adopt it.

However, Li Yu's understanding of the industry is relatively limited and he cannot cover everything. He can only provide maximum support within his own knowledge framework.

Before leaving the Industrial Association, Tan Kah Kee said to Li Yu: "If Mr. Academician has time, I hope you will come to Xiamen and discuss education investment in depth." He was afraid that Li Yu would not have time, so he added: "Xiamen is a very beautiful city. city, you won’t be disappointed when you come.”

Li Yu smiled and said, "I will definitely make time to go there."

When it was time to eat, Tang Shaoyi called Li Yu to go to Huizhong Hotel together.

On the way, Li Yu saw many shops hanging lanterns, so he asked: "Why do you start preparing for the New Year so early?"

Tang Shaoyi said in surprise: "Don't you know, Brother Shucai? Now New Year's Day has become January 1st in the Gregorian calendar, and the New Year will be celebrated on this day in the future."

Li Yu almost forgot about it.

On January 1912, 1, when the provisional government of the Republic of China was established, Mr. Sun, the provisional president, sent a telegram to the country: "The Republic of China switched to the Gregorian calendar, and November 1, the th year of the Yellow Emperor's Era, was designated as New Year's Day in the first year of the Republic of China."

The "November 1912th of the 1th year of the Yellow Emperor's Era" here is January 1, AD.

In other words, as soon as the Provisional Government of the Republic of China was established, it moved the title of New Year's Day from the first day of the first lunar month to January 1 of the Gregorian calendar.

After Yuan Shikai succeeded as president, he copied Nanjing's practice and continued to implement the Gregorian calendar New Year's Day.

As for the effect, everyone can see it.

In order to implement the "Gregorian New Year", Yuan Shikai and the government of the Republic of China more than ten years later made great efforts.

Lao Yuan's strategy is very simple and crude: have a New Year's Day holiday!

The first to respond was Shanghai. The Shanghai County City Hall issued a notice more than ten days in advance that there will be a four-day holiday from December 12 to January 31.

Immediately afterwards, major cities issued similar announcements.

Tang Shaoyi reminded: "Brothers Shucai, don't forget to buy new year's goods in advance, otherwise according to regulations, all stores will be closed by then, and you will be hungry."

"Thank you, Brother Tang, for reminding me," Li Yu said, "but I think this matter may not work out in the end."

Tang Shaoyi said: "Beijing's attitude is very resolute. The president made it clear that there will no longer be a holiday on the first day of the first lunar month, which is to fundamentally change it. Even if it can't be done for a while, people will get used to it after seven or eight years. After all, there is no day to celebrate the New Year.”

Li Yu said: "It is difficult for the orders from above to be conveyed to the vast rural areas. It is not enough for a few big cities to change them."

Tang Shaoyi said: "What goes up is followed by actions. As long as the educated people celebrate New Year's Day, sooner or later the farmers will follow suit."

Li Yu shook his head: "It's never that simple. Besides, not all cultural people are willing to go to New Year's Day in the Gregorian calendar."

Arriving at the entrance of Huizhong Hotel, Li Yu saw a group of people handing out flyers and hanging a large banner that read "Prosper Confucianism and Relieve Society."

The leader, a young man in his thirties, shouted loudly: "Confucianism is the soul of China. If Confucianism exists, the country will survive, and if Confucianism flourishes, the country will prosper. The history of unifying China is nothing more than the history of Confucianism!"

Many people gathered around, curiously taking the flyers and taking away a small pendant as a gift.

Li Yu asked Tang Shaoyi beside him: "What kind of fame is this?"

Tang Shaoyi pointed with his hand and said: "The leader is called Chen Huanzhang. He is a disciple of Kang Youwei. He probably recently received instructions from Kang Youwei and founded some kind of 'Confucian Church'."

Li Yu asked: "Shengren Kang has returned to China?"

"Not really." Tang Shaoyi said.

Li Yu said: "I guess I haven't returned to China. Otherwise, with Kang Shengren's behavior, I would definitely have to write a big book in the newspaper to highlight it when I return."

"The Kangmen disciple in front of us is setting the stage and preparing for him in advance," Tang Shaoyi said, "and this Chen Huanzhang has a very good background. He is Jiachen Enke, the Jinshi of the last imperial examination. Also, As the former Qing minister traveled abroad to study constitutional government, and then entered the Department of Economics at Columbia University in the United States, Xinhai received a doctorate in philosophy before."

Li Yu said: "My resume is very impressive. It sounds more powerful than Liang Qichao, the great disciple of Kangmen, but my behavior is too old-fashioned."

Tang Shaoyi said: "Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei have had a slight conflict since they went abroad. Now Chen Huanzhang has become one of Kang Youwei's most powerful generals. Many agencies have previously asked him to serve as an official, but they were all rejected."

Li Yu hit the nail on the head and said: "It must be that the position did not meet his psychological expectations. Even if he agreed, Kang Shengren did not agree. Kang Shengren has such a high self-esteem that he would never hold an ordinary position casually, but his mind is too old and he can't hold it even if he comes back. A high-ranking official can only choose other paths. If his protégé becomes a trivial official, it will delay his 'big things'."

Tang Shaoyi said: "Sparse talents probably refers to the Confucian Church."

Li Yu nodded, "Look at what they said. They want to establish Confucianism as the state religion. At that time, Kang Youwei will definitely serve as the leader of the Confucian Church and learn from the routines of foreign churches in the past."

"However, the foreign churches lost their real power many years ago." Tang Shaoyi said.

Li Yu said with a smile: "So the tricks Kang Shengren came up with are really puzzling. He always wants to reach the sky in one step, but in fact it is difficult to do so."

Chen Huanzhang walked up to Li Yu and Tang Shaoyi: "Two gentlemen, please learn about Confucianism. It will definitely be the national religion of the Republic of China in the future. It will be beneficial to join as early as possible."

Li Yu casually took a leaflet. The most conspicuous position on it were six big characters: "Protect the country, protect the species, and protect the education."

Li Yu teased: "If you don't join the Confucian Church, you won't even be able to keep your seed?"

"Reality is so grim, do you think..." Chen Huanzhang suddenly recognized him, "Are you Li Yu?"

Li Yu shrugged: "It's me."

Chen Huanzhang continued: "Nowadays, various bills in Congress clearly require the adoption of Western laws. This is not the subjugation of the country and the subjugation of the race!"

Li Yu said: "Don't be alarmist."

Chen Huanzhang said: "Even the calendar has been adopted by foreigners. In the future, I am afraid that even Christianity will become the state religion."

Li Yu asked: "You are actually worried about this? So you created the unheard-of Confucianism? Confucianism is just Confucianism, why do you have to change its name?"

Chen Huanzhang said: "Master Kang once said that the religion of China is 'Confucianism'. It is different from traditional Confucianism, or it includes Confucianism and all Chinese civilization." Tang Shaoyi had never heard of such a fallacy and said curiously: "Buddhism has Buddhist scriptures and Christianity has Bibles. What are the teachings of your Confucian religion?"

Chen Huanzhang paused, and then said: "There is none at the moment, but you can refer to Kang Shi's book "New Learning Apocrypha", which is the 'Sacred Law of Confucius' Reform'."

Li Yu suppressed a smile and said: "It turns out that Kang Shengren could not be a national teacher, but now he wants to be a leader. No wonder more than ten years ago, when Liang Dingfen, Zhang Zhidong's aide, asked Kang Shengren whether he had the idea of ​​becoming an emperor, Mr. Taiyan replied , 'I only heard that Kang wanted to be the leader of the religion, but not that he wanted to be the emperor. In fact, it is not unusual for people to have the idea of ​​an emperor, but if he wants to be the leader of the religion, it is unavoidable.'

Tang Shaoyi laughed directly: "Mr. Kang wants to be the 'Su King', and now he is even more eager."

Chen Huanzhang was not as thick-skinned as Kang Youwei, and he was already blushing a little, but he still argued for Kang Youwei: "The imperial system was rashly abolished, the people had no masters, and scholars lost their spiritual beliefs. Christianity has dominated Western modernization, and the Chinese people's Confucian renewal movement must do the same!" However, Confucianism still had too many flaws, so Master Kang wanted to improve it and become a more sound Confucian religion.”

Li Yu said: "Sir, can I understand that you are comparing Kang Shengren to Martin Luther of the Western Reformation?"

Chen Huanzhang said: "Master Kang deserves this title. China must implement a constitutional monarchy to have a future. With a 'virtual king' as the head of state and a 'religious leader' as the prime king to manage morality, only then can we achieve social harmony and stand above Britain and France. .”

"That's too much of a tone," Li Yu said, "And how do you see that Christianity has led Western modernization? I think your religion should read more Western history books?"

When Chen Huanzhang's pain point was mentioned, he immediately said dissatisfied: "You, a person who studies foreigners' promiscuous techniques, dare to talk about history in front of me?"

Li Yu sighed in his heart, this guy got his doctorate in philosophy in Colombia for nothing. Logically speaking, a doctor of philosophy should be a very knowledgeable person in this era. He has learned a lot of comprehensive things, including mathematics, physics, astronomy, geography, literature, history, logic, and law.

But Chen Huanzhang felt that he had been sleepwalking for several years, returned everything to the university, and still listened to Kang Youwei's ideas.

Li Yu said with a pitiful tone: "If you risk the disdain of the world and reverse the course of history, you will definitely fail miserably. Mr. Chen, the power of the West comes from the Renaissance and the pursuit of scientific democracy. We should Learn and then catch up, instead of continuing to work behind closed doors. I would also like to emphasize that science is not exclusive to foreigners, it is the truth of nature."

Chen Huanzhang couldn't listen at all: "Learn from the West? I don't think it's better to learn from Japan. They have the same language and race as us, and they also advocate the same education as us. Japan has transformed from poverty to a powerful country, which is more worthy of learning, and Japan It’s a constitutional monarchy.”

Li Yu shook his head helplessly. He could tell that this was a stubborn donkey, just like Kang Youwei, he couldn't pull it back.

As a time traveler, Li Yu understands very well that Christianity has been preached for hundreds of years, but it has not had any impact on Chinese civilization at all; while the Japanese, who claim to have the same culture, species, and religion as China, have done the most cruel things to the Chinese nation. matter.

"Mr. Chen," Li Yu said word by word, "I don't understand religion, but I also know that the founder of any religion initially gained widespread belief with a public intention, not selfishness! That's all. Farewell!"

Chen Huanzhang opened his mouth, not knowing how to reply.

Even the disciples of Kangmen probably could see that underneath Kang Youwei's public mind was a selfish one, which had been the case since the Reform Movement of 1898.

However, they still chose to believe Kang Youwei and were kept in the dark.

Six months ago, Kang Youwei openly said in "A Letter to Zhongyuan": "All the sages and heroes since ancient times have succeeded because of their self-confidence and hard work. This is what Luther and Calvin (French religious reformers) did." Industry. When it comes to the National Assembly, nine out of ten members of the National Assembly are members of our party. At this time, we are using the power of the party and the cabinet to save the country. I have almost full power. Who can compete with me?"

In the words, Kang Shengren's "imperial dream" and "church dream" vividly appeared on the page.

His logic was that Liang Qichao acted as the leader of the ruling party (at that time Liang Qichao intended to return to his sect) and became the leader himself (such as "Luther and Calvin").

Kang understands Western religions this way: believers become party members, and the party leader obeys the party leader, and the party leader obeys the leader. The leader achieves full control over national power and social organizations through the parliament and cabinet controlled by the ruling party.

Isn’t it a typical “integration of politics and religion”?

This set of models has been abandoned in the West for hundreds of years, but Kang Shengren actually wants to use it? !

I really don’t know if he thinks that the 40 million people in the country are fools, or if he has gone crazy.

After Li Yu finished speaking, someone on the side suddenly praised loudly: "Well said! As expected of Grand Scholar Li, how can these young people be able to argue against you?"

Li Yu turned around and said, "It turns out it's you."

Shi Liangcai said: "I heard it completely, and then I published this article in the newspaper."

Li Yu smiled bitterly: "It's better to forget it, otherwise they will definitely attack me again."

Shi Liangcai said: "Are you afraid of them?"

Li Yu said: "Of course I'm not afraid, but how can I have free time to continue spending time with them? It's a complete waste of time!"

Shi Liangcai lamented: "What a pity that a good editorial was lost."

Li Yu said easily: "Since we are here, let's come in and eat together."

Several people entered the Huizhong Hotel, and after sitting down, Li Yu then asked: "Based on your talents, how is the acquisition of "Declaration" completed?"

Shi Liangcai said: "According to your instructions, I hired a professional lawyer and signed the contract."

Li Yu said: "Did you forget to stipulate intangible assets?"

"I haven't forgotten," Shi Liangcai said, "This is the first time I know that there are extremely dangerous contract risks if the contract is not signed well."

"Just add it," Li Yu said. "In the future, Shenbao will definitely grow steadily under your management."

Shi Liangcai said: "After I took over the Shenbao, I immediately established the purpose of 'freedom of speech, impartiality, and a mouthpiece for the people.'"

Tang Shaoyi praised: "It's so well said! We need newspapers like this."

Shi Liangcai said: "I have repeatedly emphasized to all employees that newspapers are the mouthpieces of the people. Except for the oppression of special forces, they must always say something for the people in order to stand firm."

A trace of sadness suddenly flashed in Li Yu's heart. Shi Liangcai was later assassinated by Dai Li because of his stance.

Shi Liangcai saw Li Yu's expression and said: "Grandmaster Li, since you all support my "Declaration" so much, you must take practical actions, such as providing contributions."

Li Yu said: "I can't write political commentary, I can only write some scientific articles, but there is not much audience."

Shi Liangcai said: "What we lack most is not scientific articles. As long as you contribute, I will definitely put them on the front page."

Li Yu thought for a while and said, "I do have something I want to publicize in the newspaper."

Shi Liangcai asked: "Propaganda? What are you promoting?"

Li Yu said: "Plane."