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

People in later generations hated the Qing Dynasty deeply. In fact, the people of the Republic of China didn't like it either, and they didn't care about Yuan Shikai's high-profile funeral for Empress Dowager Xunqing.

But Yuan Shikai must do this. Firstly, as a former Qing official, he still has some old feelings for Longyu; secondly, he must show human rights and equality: although they are locked up, these royal families must also be treated as citizens... …

On the day of the funeral, Li Yu was patted on the shoulder while watching. When he turned around, he found that it was a foreigner.

"Mr. Li Yu, foreign academician of the Royal Society of the British Empire?" the foreigner asked.

"It's me," Li Yu nodded, "Who is your Excellency?"

The foreigner replied: "I am from Edinburgh, Scotland. You can call me Johnston."

It turned out that he was the last imperial advisor of the last emperor Puyi. Li Yu shook hands with him and said: "Hello."

Johnston has been in China for more than ten years. His name was chosen by himself and is also a transliteration. It is written as "Johnston" in English.

Johnston glanced at the funeral procession and said: "I am deeply gratified to see that your country still retains some of its traditions."

Li Yu asked: "Are you referring to the etiquette for Empress Dowager Xunqing?"

"Yes," said Johnston, "thousands of years of tradition cannot be swept away."

Li Yu said: "If China wants to become stronger, if the imperial system is an obstruction, it must be abolished."

Johnston said slowly: "If in the long process of reform, China gradually despises and abandons all the pillars it has relied on for thousands of years, and at the same time completely Westernizes all its ideals, life philosophy, moral concepts and social systems, it will indeed You will become rich, progressive and powerful, and even become the hegemon of the world; but you will also lose more outstanding and great qualities and sources of happiness. All things worthy of self-respect and self-improvement will be gone forever and replaced by Thousands of village police stations will be opened!"

Li Yu was stunned. This statement was quite confusing. By analogy, if it were said a hundred years later, it would be like a certain Hollywood movie star standing on the ruins of the Iraqi battlefield and saying: "Although they have nothing, at least they are free!"

Obviously very dull.

But after all, it was an era when the imperial system had just died out, and there were many Chinese people who were confused, not to mention foreigners, and the Johnston in front of him was not that stupid.

But Li Yu still said: "Some things are dross, and some things are essence. If you accidentally eat the dross as the essence, it will definitely be more uncomfortable than eating a mouthful of cow dung."

Johnston added: "China is now like a huge social experiment field. Although there are successful examples from the United States and France, China's changes are so fast that people are caught off guard, and many things cannot keep up."

Li Yu said calmly: "Mr. Zhuang, don't be anxious. Those who should keep up will catch up sooner or later."

Johnston said: "The United States has experienced the tragic War of Independence and Civil War, and the French have also been embattled on all sides in Europe. But China's situation is different. She has been surrounded by powerful enemies, and the powerful enemies will not watch her go through the pain period peacefully. .”

Li Yu didn't expect that this old Scottish man who had been a British diplomat would care about China's future. It was really rare.

Johnston was also a China fan who evolved from a China expert and highly respected Chinese culture.

As early as 1901, after the Gengzi Incident, he published an article in a London magazine accusing Christian missionaries of trying to change China through religion. This move aroused fierce criticism from the British religious circles, calling him "a weirdo who is willing to live in the wild" and "a traitor to Britain".

Li Yu replied: "Mr. Zhuang's speculation is worthy of recognition, but isn't this the way the world is? How can there be any real kindness? We can only find ways to strengthen ourselves."

Now it was Johnston's turn to be stunned. He paused and then said: "In this case, wouldn't you be willing to be the guinea pigs in the social experiment?"

Li Yu sighed: "It's not a white mouse, it's just a beast trapped in a cage."

"Your metaphor is more appropriate," Johnston said. "Maybe it will become the next Japan."

Li Yu said, "Does Mr. Zhuang think that Japan, which is full of ambitions to invade everywhere like Russia, is good?"

"Of course it's not good," said Johnston, "but I don't think it has any bigger appetite."

Li Yu said: "Since the time of Toyotomi Hideyoshi hundreds of years ago, Japan has used Korea as a springboard to covet the evil intention of the entire Ming Dynasty. Now it has completed the first step and started the second step. Since then, It won’t stop.”

Johnston suddenly laughed: "That only shows that the Japanese are still too stupid! No matter how weak China is, it is still stronger than India; no matter how strong Japan is, it will not be stronger than Britain, which is known as the empire on which the sun never sets. What will it use to realize its wishful thinking? ?Furthermore, Japan is deeply influenced by Chinese culture, so how can there be a situation where a disciple draws a sword against his teacher?"

Li Yu said coldly: "Yes, you are unworthy of your descendants."

As a time traveler, Li Yu quite agrees with Johnston's statement. Unfortunately, no one could have imagined the emergence of fascist and militaristic lunatics.

However, according to the game theory model, the emergence of madmen is inevitable, no matter how bad the expected results are.

The Japanese themselves know that they only have three months' chance. If China did not surrender and chose to continue to be tough, it would have already lost. The next eight years were just the Japanese dragging it out, dreaming of a happy ending in a dream.

Anyway, Li Yu is an absolute anti-Japanese brag. He never thinks that the Japanese are good, let alone that they are strong. He is just a crazy gambler with some shitty luck.

What I have to do is to make the Japanese at that time feel like they have stepped into hell as much as possible, and drag more men across Japan into pieces.

Li Yu suddenly noticed that Johnston was wearing a string of Buddhist beads around his neck, and was surprised: "Mr. Zhuang must be a Christian, right?"

Johnston noticed Li Yu's vision, and then said: "I like Buddhism very much now. Over the years, I have been to Sichuan and Tibet, visited Mount Wutai, Mount Putuo, and Mount Jiuhua, read a lot of Buddhist scriptures, and met many eminent monks. I found that Buddhist thought is far more profound than the Bible."

Li Yu felt that this last imperial master was becoming more and more interesting. He said: "The Buddhist scriptures were continuously perfected by tens of thousands of monks over thousands of years. They are definitely deeper than an ancient book that has been frozen for two thousand years."

Johnston said: "It's a pity that my study was too shallow, and I didn't have time to read so many scriptures."

Li Yu asked: "Where will Mr. Zhuang go from now on?"

Johnston said: "Governor Weihaiwei sent a letter to the legation, requiring me to handle some matters."

Li Yu said: "Mr. Zhuang may see new changes next time he comes to the capital."

Johnston said: "I don't even want to doubt it at all."

-

Feng Ru has been busy with the Tianjin Aircraft Factory recently.

Fortunately, building an aircraft factory seems to be simpler than a car factory at this time, and the requirements for an airstrip are not high. After all, it only has a small take-off weight, and as long as the ground is flat and hard enough, it is enough.

Li Yu did not forget to entrust Zhang Jian's textile factory to produce a batch of parachutes. Zhang Jian was a little confused when he saw the drawings. However, after hearing that Li Yu said it was a magical equipment that could survive falling from hundreds of meters high, his interest greatly increased and he immediately Start sending people to make it.

Li Yu came to Feng Ru Aircraft Factory and took a look around. It was currently very empty, with only two larger work sheds.

Feng Ru was assembling a training aircraft with several American technicians, and the warehouse behind had parts for a biplane.

After meeting Li Yu, Feng Ru pulled him over and said, "Master Li, I have already negotiated terms for those American technicians, which are US$450 per month and at least two months of paid vacation per year. It's a bit too high, but if it's any lower, they will definitely not agree to come to China." "I thought the price was too high," Li Yu said easily, "I'll just go with what you said. After all, the aircraft factory is yours. You’re just an investor, you have the final say on how you spend your money.”

Seeing Li Yu's straightforwardness, Feng Ru was a little surprised, "But the imperial court only provided a piece of land and a small amount of funds, and did not care about other expenses. This..."

Li Yu patted him on the shoulder: "Don't worry about money, just do your job of manufacturing aircraft."

Feng Ru said firmly: "I will complete it as quickly as possible."

Li Yu quickly said: "Don't forget safety first!"

Feng Ru's progress is not slow, and it feels like Li Yu can realize God's dream in just a few months.

A few days later, the aircraft factory welcomed another group of visitors, led by Qin Guoyong.

He first met with Li Yu: "Mr. Li, we are from Nanyuan Airport. I heard that the Chinese built their own aircraft, so we came here to take a look."

Li Yuke said angrily: "Welcome, welcome."

Around 1910, during the Xuantong period, the Qing Dynasty wanted to develop the aviation industry and sent a group of students to France to study, and set aside a piece of land in Nanyuan to build an airport and school buildings.

Nanyuan was once a royal hunting ground. It suffered unprecedented looting during the Gengzi Incident. The Qing government had lost the ability to continue to maintain such a large hunting ground, so it simply selected a piece of land and designated it as an airport, which is China's first airport - Nanyuan. Yuan Airport.

This time is quite early. The first airport in Japan opposite was built a year later.

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Shikai inherited the aircraft business. The Beiyang government invested 30 yuan to purchase 12 French "Gaudelon" training aircraft for Nanyuan Airport.

And just this year, the Beiyang government will establish Nanyuan Aviation School, and the principal is Qin Guoyong.

It is worth mentioning that Qin Guoyong was the first person in China to fly an airplane into the sky. In 1911, he flew a training plane and circled three times over Nanyuan Airport.

However, although it started not late, the aircraft manufacturing in the Republic of China was basically zero; the aviation industry cannot be said to be non-existent, but it can only be said to be better than nothing.

After that, the Republic of China did have an air force, and Fengjun's air force was quite powerful for a time. However, all aircraft were purchased, and maintenance capabilities could not keep up. Therefore, the Air Force during the Republic of China only had one outstanding performance in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, and then fell into silence.

Of course, the Japanese Air Force at the same time was actually like that. The little devil's naval aviation is indeed very good, but the strength of the army aviation is much weaker in comparison.

The reason is simple: the little devil has no money and no resources. They can only take shortcuts and take the road of winning by quality, hoping to use the great bushido spirit to achieve the effect of one machine being better than ten machines.

But as we all know, the consumption of aircraft during World War II was very high. Thousands of sorties were dispatched on the European battlefields, and the Japanese Air Force only trained a small number of elite aviation troops.

This approach suffered heavy losses as early as the Nomenkan air battle with the Soviet army. In the first few days, the little devil could still go back and forth in the air battle, trying to replicate the great achievements of the Russo-Japanese War.

However, they soon discovered that the Soviet aircraft were attacking more and more, and even new types of fighter jets were coming, and they quickly fell into a disadvantage.

In other words, trying to rely on quality (in fact, quality is not much higher) to defeat the opponent's quantitative advantage is completely unfeasible in a large-scale war of attrition. No matter how good a pilot is, he can't escape the fate of being shot down even if he continues to participate in the war. It is a fluke to survive until the end of the war.

The Red Baron, the ace of the German Air Force during World War I, was a typical example. He achieved an astonishing record of shooting down 80 enemy aircraft, but he still lost his life in an air battle in 1918.

The strength of the Japanese army is only that small. If it loses its strength, it will really be gone.

If the Air Force does not invest enough in a battle, it will not have any real effect. Just like the tanks during the Battle of the Somme, although their performance was excellent, the problem was that there were too few to affect the overall situation.

Anyway, it is really helpless. If the situation can be maintained and developed, in 31, Japan will really not dare to act recklessly.

Feng Ru enthusiastically showed the aircraft he was making to Qin Guoyong and his party.

Qin Guoyong exclaimed: "I can't believe that the Chinese can really build such complex advanced machinery on their own!"

Feng Ru was very modest: "As long as you follow the correct method, it's not difficult."

Qin Guoyong touched the fuselage, his eyes gleaming, and continued to ask: "How much does it cost to build an airplane?"

Li Yu knew this better and replied: "Training aircraft are relatively cheap, at most eight thousand silver dollars; if they are fighter jets, they are almost double or even higher."

At this time, Yuan Datou had not issued yet, and the purchasing power of silver coins was stronger.

Qin Guoyong said: "We bought 12 training aircraft from France at a cost of 30 yuan, with an average of yuan per aircraft. In other words, we spent three times the price?!"

Li Yu spread his hands: "That's what military procurement is, there's nothing we can do about it."

The prices of subsequent cars imported from the United States will also triple.

The training aircraft purchased at Nanyuan Airport is the most basic model. If purchased in France, it might not even cost a quarter of the price. Because aircraft were changing so quickly at this time, production of an aircraft was discontinued after it was built, and then a new model was produced.

Qin Guoyong took a breath: "They are so ruthless in making money!"

Li Yu said helplessly: "Arms have always been one of the largest trades in the world."

Aircraft from the First World War were relatively cheap, with the best ones costing tens of thousands of dollars.

During World War II, one cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

By the time before Li Yu traveled through time, the cost of building top-level fighter jets had easily reached tens of millions or even hundreds of millions. And under normal circumstances, the cost of carrier-based aircraft on aircraft carriers is much higher than that of land-based aircraft.

Anyway, if you want to rely on military procurement to build an air force, it will be a staggering investment in any era.

——曾经老美卖得最火的战斗机F16，单机造价大概1600万美元（1993年左右），湾湾买的时候每架却花了4000万（F16A）……直接被老美当成冤大头。

"No wonder you want to make it yourself!" Qin Guoyong praised, "The superiors say that whatever Mr. Li Yu does must be top-notch, and the same is true for aircraft manufacturing!"

Li Yu smiled and said: "This compliment should be applied to Mr. Feng Ru."

Qin Guoyong said to Feng Ru: "We will establish an aviation school soon, and I sincerely invite you to teach in the school."

Feng Ru touched his brow and said politely: "I'm very busy. I don't know if I have time. I'll try my best."

In fact, this aviation school only trained four batches of students. With the death of Yuan Shikai, the situation once again fell into turmoil, and funds could not be obtained. Nanyuan Aviation School basically did nothing.