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

Masturbating is easy to become addicted, while flying is even more addictive, and there is no time for sage to stop you from flying.

Li Yu truly experienced what it means to take a ride in the sky, because the plane is also open...

Since it is a convertible with two wings, don't expect much flight speed and altitude. The speed is estimated to be only about 1,670 kilometers per hour, not to mention high-speed rail, which is not as fast as a train.

After many tests, Li Yu was able to fly stably at about one thousand meters.

It’s just that the trainer aircraft has a simple structure, a small fuel tank, and it must have a two-seater layout, making it more bulky. Racing is about "ten horsepower less, not one kilogram more", and this is even more true for airplanes. Now that two people are sitting together in the sky, you can imagine how overwhelmed the small trainer aircraft is, and the flying distance is naturally not far.

However, after the training aircraft is ready, it will be easier to use the real-life aircraft. At that time, the distance of hundreds of kilometers between Beijing and Tianjin will be easy.

After being fully prepared, Li Yu organized a flight show, which attracted many visitors, including many celebrities from the Beijing and Tianjin areas.

Li Yu and Feng Ru flew for a while respectively, causing roars from the audience.

Duan Qirui, Chief of the Army of the Beiyang Government, and Liu Guanxiong, Chief of the Navy, came to visit together.

A young man next to Duan Qirui said excitedly: "I also want to fly a plane and have fun!"

Duan Qirui scolded: "You can't even drive a car, and you still want to fly a plane?"

The young man said: "Father, you have such a good relationship with Li Yu, let him teach me!"

This young man is Duan Qirui's son Duan Hongye.

Yuan Kewen on the side shook his fan and said: "Master Li is very capable, but you may not be able to do what he can do."

Duan Hongye was obviously dissatisfied: "Isn't there another person named Feng Ru?"

"Feng Ru has studied airplane piloting in the United States for many years and can even build airplanes, which is incomparable." Yuan Kewen continued to pour cold water.

Duan Hongye was very playful. After Li Yu got off the plane, he pulled him over and asked him about learning to fly.

Li Yu said kindly: "Without a complete training mechanism, it is really difficult to learn to drive."

Duan Hongye said: "Then how did you learn it?"

Li Yu said: "I have been studying the aircraft field for many years, and I generally know the temperament of aircraft."

"Tempers?" Duan Hongye asked, "Can't an airplane still have a temper like a horse?"

Li Yu said: "Although the current aircraft has a certain degree of safety, the pilot needs to hear the status of the aircraft engine, control rods and other components through the sound. Once something is wrong, he must quickly reduce the altitude and land in time. In other words, you You have to at least understand some of the principles of an airplane to be able to fly it.”

This wave of cold water was poured down harder than Yuan Kewen. Duan Hongye asked: "Where can I learn...engine knowledge?"

Li Yu said with a smile: "I have a few mechanical books, but unfortunately they are all in English. And if you want to understand them, you must first understand basic mathematics and physics."

"You still have to learn mathematics and physics to fly a plane?" Duan Hongye became even more frustrated.

Li Yu spread his hands: "Mathematics is the foundation of the basics, otherwise how can you understand mechanics books."

Duan Hongye's scalp was numb: "I don't care, I will fly the plane!"

"Stop messing around!" Duan Qirui kicked him and said helplessly, "Sir, don't blame me, the dog lacks discipline."

As one of the four young masters of the Republic of China (he is included in some versions), Duan Hongye may have received the least education because he was not around Duan Qirui when he was a boy and had a wild personality.

Duan Hongye said: "If they can drive, I can drive!"

Li Yu threatened him and said: "Mr. Duan, as far as I know, countless celebrities have died in airplane accidents. For example, Charles Rolls, a British aristocrat and founder of Rolls-Royce, He died in a flight accident two years ago, and you should know that he was a mature pilot who had completed the feat of crossing the English Channel."

Duan Hongye's mouth twitched: "Can it really kill people?"

Li Yu vaguely felt that people in this era did not have as much fear of heights as they did in later generations, and they had not had many opportunities to see heights.

Li Yu said: "A height of seven to eight meters is enough for someone to fall to death, let alone an airplane's height of seven to eight hundred meters."

Duan Hongye shrank his neck: "That means dying a hundred times is not enough? Academician Li is so courageous!"

Yuan Kewen smiled and said: "I told you that you can't do it, but you still don't believe it."

"It's all in vain!" Duan Hongye said disappointedly, and then asked Yuan Kewen, "You don't want to fly around in a plane at all?"

Yuan Kewen said: "I definitely want to, but I cherish my life more."

Duan Hongye said with a smile: "You must cherish your life! The second master may be the real dragon emperor in the future."

Yuan Kewen immediately interrupted him: "Don't say such nonsense! I, Yuan Kewen, just want to be a celebrity, hanging out among poems, couplets, playing chess, calligraphy and painting, and don't care about power or position."

Duan Hongye said: "That's not up to you."

This year, Yuan Shikai's eldest son, Yuan Keding, suddenly fell off his horse and was injured, becoming a cripple. Yuan Shikai felt that it would be unethical for a cripple to become a prince, so he paid more attention to Yuan Kewen.

This made Yuan Keding extremely jealous of his second brother Yuan Kewen.

In fact, with Yuan Kewen's character, he couldn't enter the political arena at all. He said indifferently: "With so many younger brothers, it is not my turn to be a prodigal son who only loves the dust of the world."

"The prodigal son has to fly a plane," Duan Hongye said. "I heard that the most fashionable thing for rich young men in Shanghai is to drive a car to a brothel. If the second master flies a plane, he will definitely outshine all the rich young men in Shanghai."

Li Yu was really speechless, so he said: "In more than ten years, the civil aircraft business will appear. There is no need to learn to drive by yourself."

The two young men stuck out their tongues and stopped talking.

Duan Qirui had some other ideas about aircraft. Duan Qirui asked: "Mr. Li, can it be realized if the military department purchases it?"

Li Yu said: "General Manager Duan, if you want to achieve mass production of aircraft, you will need to invest at least several million yuan."

Duan Qirui gave up the idea as soon as he heard the amount: "A few million is enough to build another army."

Navy Chief Liu Guanxiong took the opportunity to say: "So it is better to join the navy."

Duan Qirui nodded thoughtfully, "This kind of flying thing in the sky, at least now, I don't see any other abilities."

Liu Guanxiong said: "Grandmaster Li always likes to come up with some advanced stuff that we don't understand. I think it's not too late for us to do it after the foreigners have mastered it."

Duan Qirui felt that what he said made sense, so he stood up to say goodbye and returned to the capital with him.

The military was not interested, but the newspapers were excited.

Newspapers such as "Shenbao" and "Ta Kung Pao" reported on this successful flight in numerous articles, calling it an achievement comparable to that of foreigners.

Feng Ru was greatly encouraged after seeing it and prepared to continue developing new aircraft.

Of course Li Yu supported it and provided some additional funds to allow him to go to the United States for further study at intervals.

He is the only one in the country developing aircraft, so it is easy for him to fall behind others. He must not make the mistake of working behind closed doors again.

——    After Li Yu returned to the capital, he went to Peking University and Tsinghua University as usual to attend classes. Now that the students' standards have improved, he began to deliberately train them and help them as much as possible.

Everything went well at Tsinghua University, but I encountered problems again when I went to Peking University.

As soon as Li Yu entered the Peking University campus, he found more than a hundred students holding banners crowded at the door of the principal's office, shouting: "Resign! Resign!"

Li Yu found Hu Renyuan, the dean of engineering, and asked, "What's going on?"

Hu Renyuan sighed: "A few days ago, President He proposed a rule that in the future, all students who want to enter the undergraduate program must take exams, and there will no longer be exceptions for exemption. Students protested and wanted him to resign."

Li Yu's head is extremely big. It seems that Peking University still has not completely solved the problem of school spirit.

He Jueshi squeezed out of the crowd and shouted: "How outrageous! This is the campus, do you know what you are doing?"

Several leading students raised their voices even louder: "Why are we not allowed to enter the undergraduate program without taking the exam? Could it be that we have studied hard for several years and can't even get a diploma?"

At this time, university diplomas were quite valuable, comparable to PhDs in later generations. He Jueshi stung a hornet's nest by not allowing them to advance to bachelor's degrees without taking exams.

He Jueshi said: "If you don't meet your academic qualifications and can't pass the exam, why should I let you advance to undergraduate degree? Is this fair?"

The student was reluctant: "Why did the previous students just get undergraduate degrees?"

He Jueshi said: "You are different from them, you..."

The student refused to let him continue: "It's different? How can it be fair to say it's different? You are blatantly opposing the spirit of democracy and republic!"

He Xuanshi said angrily: "Do you want to be like the ignorant old people and young people?"

"We just want to know if there is still fairness in the university!" The students' voices directly overwhelmed He Jueshi.

He simply couldn't resist such sophistry.

Li Yu stretched out his hand toward him, and He Xuanshi seemed to see a savior and immediately came to Li Yu's side.

The rioting students took a resignation note and insisted on He Jueshi's signature. Li Yu stood up and said: "Everyone go back!"

Li Yu's status in the academic world is definitely at the top. The students calmed down a little after seeing him. A few leading students said to him: "Master Li, please judge, why don't you let us enter the undergraduate program without taking the exam? Why did the former Do all Qing students graduate with diplomas?”

"Do you want an explanation?" Li Yu asked.

"Yes, I need an explanation." said the student who led the trouble.

"Okay, let me tell you," Li Yu said, "the country has reformed, and the schools must also reform. If you don't obey the school rules, you will be the remnants of the old era who will be expelled."

"But why can students recruited by the former Qing Dynasty graduate with bachelor's degrees?" the student asked.

"Their graduation certificates say "Jingshi University Hall", and what you will write in the future is "Peking University". It's completely different," Li Yu said. "Don't use what you think is fair to argue for the fairness of the times. We really need to be fair everywhere. There are so many more. Unequal treaty?”

The leading student said: "You still haven't explained why you don't exempt us from the exam!"

Li Yu said sharply: "Why? There are so many whys! If you read more books, there won't be so many whys. Many problems stem from reading too little and thinking too much!"

Li Yu stopped caring about the troublemaking students and drove to the Ministry of Education with He Jueshi.

Minister of Education Fan Yuanlian was furious when he found out the whole story: "These troublemaking students must all be expelled!"

Li Yu hurriedly tried to persuade him with good words: "The law does not punish everyone, but at most punishes a few leaders."

He Jueshi also said good things: "They are not sensible yet, so there is no need to make the matter a big deal."

Fan Yuanlian said: "Principal He, although you are still speaking for the students now, after this incident, the Ministry of Education and the Presidential Office may have to consider again whether to ban Peking University."

He Jueshi immediately panicked: "Absolutely not!"

Fan Yuanlian sighed: "I will discuss it with the Congress and President Yuan someday, and I will tell you the result."

He Jueshi said: "The commander-in-chief must think twice!"

He was really worried and spent almost all of his one year in office on rectifying school discipline. It seems that what we manage is not the ancestral home of universities across the country, but a passionate university.

A few months later, the Ministry of Education really had the idea of ​​shutting down Peking University. He Xuanshi personally wrote to the president: "The management is poor and can be improved; the funds are wasted and can be cut; the students' levels are not uniform and can be rectified." . But this is the only institution of a national university that should not be stopped suddenly."

Li Yu also signed the submission and mobilized public opinion, which made the Ministry of Education give up the idea again.

I really didn’t expect that in just two years after entering the Republic of China, the Ministry of Education wanted to ban Peking University twice...

What a disaster.

But this was just a small wave in the turmoil of the Republic of China. In contrast, a bigger wave finally broke out in the south - the second revolution.

As for the result, there is actually no need to say more, because it was such a failure.

It was completely a hasty and immature revolution. The military power of the South had long since collapsed and there was no fighting capital.

Public opinion across the country even sided with Yuan Shikai and opposed the war. Even the famous Yunnan Governor Cai E stood up and openly opposed the second revolution.

Under the disparity in military strength, the second revolution failed miserably in just two months.

At the same time, the capital that the Kuomintang Party had worked so hard to accumulate was completely wiped out, and all members of Congress were arrested, and they no longer had the ability to restrain Yuan Shikai.

Such a disastrous defeat was unexpected by the Kuomintang Party. What is even more ironic is that after the Revolution of 1911, the truly unified Republic of China was only two years under the rule of Yuan Shikai after the "Second Revolution".

It can only be said that in a dangerous situation where the great powers are surrounded and the country is weak and the people are poor, centralization of power can indeed bring a certain stability to the country. Therefore, when Yuan Shikai suppressed the "second revolution", he gained a certain degree of support from the people.

History is always so intriguing.

And history will never make mistakes, it is always people who make mistakes.

This medium-sized wave did not have much impact on the capital. Li Yu, who was studying his thesis at home, received another letter from Sweden.

Open it and see, good guys, the Nobel Committee has proposed to award this year's Nobel Prize in Physics to both Onnes and Li Yu. The reason is naturally the discovery of superconductivity and diamagnetism.

Although the jury has not yet finalized the decision, Li Yu knows very well that they are almost inseparable.

In the first half of the 20th century, superconductivity was a very independent "small category", and the mainstream physics was quantum mechanics, astrophysics, and atomic physics.

Although superconductivity is magical, it is completely unexplainable by current physics (it will still be unexplainable a hundred years later), and it is impossible to popularize and apply it because low-temperature conditions are too harsh.

However, prizes in superconductivity have always been awarded very quickly.

Superconductivity was just discovered in 1911, and the prize was awarded two years later.

Room-temperature superconductivity was discovered in 1986, and the prize was awarded the following year in 1987. It was this award that caused our country's scientific researchers to suffer a big loss. Because our country discovered more outstanding superconducting materials in 1987.

We are quite powerful in the field of superconductivity. Li Yu got involved in superconducting because he estimated that if he took good care of his health, he would be able to live almost until then, and he would definitely win back the 87 Nobel Prize a year or two in advance...