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

Jiang Baili recovered very quickly. The location where he was shot was very similar to Song Jiaoren's, but he was luckier and his internal organs were not seriously damaged. Otherwise, with the medical level of the early 20th century, he would have definitely escaped death.

After staying for another month, when Li Yu and Liang Qichao visited again, he had basically recovered.

After Jiang Baili was discharged from the hospital, he took Li Yu to the Army No. 1 Preparatory School on the outskirts of Beijing.

Li Yu said: "Isn't it appropriate for me, a math and science person, to go to a military academy?"

Jiang Baili said: "The Army Preparatory School teaches all general science subjects, which are the mathematics, physics, and chemistry you study. Compared with ordinary middle schools, it just has a little more military training."

"It seems a bit similar to the Beiyang Military Preparation Crash Course a few years ago." Li Yu said.

"That's why I want you to take a look," Jiang Baili said. "Brother Shucai has great talent. Your lecture notes are very popular at Baoding Army Officer School. It's a pity that this school is noticed by many other departments of the Army Ministry. Here, reform measures are no longer effective, so I think we still need to focus on middle schools.”

Li Yu agreed very much with Jiang Baili’s statement: “Education should start from childhood.”

Li Yu asked for the address again. It was in the northeast of Tsinghua University. It was not very far by car. He happened to be attending a lecture at Tsinghua University when he came back.

The age of the students in this middle school is equally varied, ranging from fourteen to twenty-four or five years old.

Jiang Baili followed the previous habit at Baoding Army Officer Academy and gave each student a copy of "The Way of the Warriors in China". This book was written by Liang Qichao a few years ago.

"I hope you will remember a sentence of Mr. Ren Gong's words in this book," Jiang Baili said loudly, "European and Western Japanese people often say that the history of China is a history without martial arts; the nation of China is a nation without martial arts. I still think about it now. It is said that China does not lack this spirit, because Japan’s Bushido was learned from the Han and Tang Dynasties.”

Liang Qichao's book, written in the late Qing Dynasty, has many crude ideas, but there is no big problem in cultivating a martial spirit in military academies.

The great man once said, "If you want to civilize your spirit, you must first barbarize your body." This is derived from some of Liang Qichao's articles.

Jiang Baili is most concerned about the military field. In the first half of the 20th century, the entire international community only recognized strength, but now the most powerful expression of strength is force.

He gave a eloquent speech to the students for nearly two hours, telling the students in the audience a lot about what he saw and heard at the Japanese Army Military Academy to give them more insights.

Next came Li Yu's speech. Li Yu's reputation was already great. In addition, his previous airplane performance was reported by newspapers and he also gained a greater reputation in the military academy.

Of course, the most important thing is that there are too few people who can give Chinese faces in front of foreigners, so everyone respects Li Yu very much.

Li Yu has given lectures at the Beiyang Military Preparation Crash Course before. He has experience in how to deal with these future big soldiers or warlord leaders. The content should not be too profound, so that they know what is going on, and it is enough to have basic mathematical, physical and chemical literacy. .

Li Yu said: "Mr. Baili has always been looking for ways to strengthen the country and the army. Recently, he has been studying the history of the European Renaissance. This choice makes sense. The Renaissance is simply about the emancipation of the mind. It is very similar to us who have just escaped from the imperial system. Once his imprisonment is released, he will be much more powerful than Sun Dasheng without the tightening curse."

An older student in the front row said, "Can you kill a foreigner with a stick?"

Li Yu said with a smile: "The Renaissance was five hundred years ago, which means it took them five hundred years to get to where it is today. To be honest, I also want to pick up the stick and fight it head-on, but this is a process, no matter how hard it is, It also takes a lot of time to study.”

The student said: "Five hundred years? I am not a monkey. In five hundred years, I may only be a stone!"

Another younger student said: "Brother Jing Fu, you who studied biology class have forgotten that human bones cannot turn into stone."

"It's better to turn into stone!" said the older student.

Li Yu's mind flashed. He always felt that he had seen the name "Jingfu" somewhere, but he couldn't remember it, so he asked the older student: "This classmate, what is your name?"

The young student rushed to answer: "His name is Liu Zhi, and my name is Fu Zuoyi."

Well, among the three major battles, the commander-in-chief of the national army in the Huaihai Battle and the Pingjin Battle were all in this small preparatory middle school.

Jingfu is the name of Liu Zhi. This "tiger general" who later became one of President Chiang Kai-shek's five tiger generals said to the young Fu Zuoyi: "Why do you always talk so fast?"

Fu Zuoyi laughed and asked, "Who told you to always speak so slowly?"

"Slowness has its advantages," Liu Zhi said, and then said to Li Yu, "Mr. Academician, you lectured at the Military Academy, and even Commander Duan praised you, saying that your knowledge is as great as the sky."

The "tiger general" Liu Zhi, who was nicknamed our army's undercover agent, was young and strong. Li Yu replied: "The sky is not that big. What is really big is the universe."

"Does that mean it's really bigger than the sky?" Liu Zhi said.

Li Yu smiled and said: "What I mean is that there is a sky beyond the sky."

"I remember," Liu Zhi said, "Mr. Academician once discovered a star called Pluto, but the name was a bit unlucky. It sounded like the underworld."

Li Yu said: "This star is very far away and extremely cold. It is somewhat appropriate to say that it is the underworld."

"You know all this?" Liu Zhi said in surprise, "You are really like Monkey Sun, can you go to the underworld?"

Li Yu had no choice but to explain: "A lot of information about the stars can be known through the spectrum."

How could Liu Zhi understand spectroscopy? He shook his head and said, "I'd better study ballistics on how to target artillery shells accurately."

Fu Zuoyi said: "Then you should be more careful next time when you copy my notes. You will definitely pass this course."

Li Yu suddenly said to him: "Student Fu, do you like the mechanics course in physics?"

Fu Zuoyi scratched his head: "I haven't learned it yet."

Li Yu said: "You may be interested in the fact that mechanics is the basis of physics."

"Is it difficult?" Fu Zuoyi asked.

Li Yu thought for a while and said: "If you have basic mathematics knowledge and can understand Newton's laws of mechanics, you can learn it slowly. If you go deeper, you can also learn fluid mechanics and structural mechanics, which are all very useful knowledge."

Fu Zuoyi said thoughtfully: "It's interesting."

Liu Zhi asked doubtfully, "Why don't you ask me?"

Fu Zuoyi smiled and said: "You have always been half-proficient in math and science courses, so you better not learn it."

After Li Yu finished speaking and walked off the stage, Jiang Baili asked them to look forward to the Baoding Army Non-commissioned Officer School as an incentive for their daily study.

They were busy here all morning before leaving. Li Yu then drove to Tsinghua University and gave another physics class.

Jiang Baili went to attend the more common Chinese studies classes in the afternoon courses, and also found Liang Qichao's previous speeches at Tsinghua University and studied them carefully. Jiang Baili still respected Liang Qichao as a teacher.

After the afternoon class ended, the two set off back to Beijing. Li Yu asked: "Is attending classes at Tsinghua different from the military academy?"

Jiang Baili said: "Of course it is different. The students from this kind of school are all great scholars. But I feel that the Chinese studies at Tsinghua University are not as bad as I heard, and some students also like the Chinese studies courses very much."

Li Yu said: "I had a chat with President Zhou before and asked him to pay more attention to students' interests and let students develop whatever they like. I think it won't be long before Tsinghua will produce a few masters of Chinese studies."

Jiang Baili said: "There is something unexpected. I thought that schools run by foreigners were all church-run, but today I didn't see a single missionary in the school." Li Yu smiled and said: "First of all, this is not a church school, and secondly, I guess The foreigners themselves have realized that there is no possibility of proselytizing in China.”

"No wonder I see some students attending the Confucian Church instead," Jiang Baili said.

Li Yu said: "That was the students' independent behavior."

With the full support of the Presidential Office, the Confucian Church has very extensive activities, and it seems that it really regards itself as the same religion as Christianity.

However, Li Yu is not worried at all about the emergence of Confucianism in universities, because this kind of doctrine can deceive uneducated people. For college students, the practice of forcibly turning Confucianism into a religion is really annoying, and no one really cares about it. I want to join the Confucian Church.

-

The next day after returning home, Zhang Taiyan's apprentice Huang Kan, Qian Xuantong, and Lu Xun found Li Yu again.

"Oh no, Mr. Academician, the master has been taken away!" Several people shouted.

The corner of Li Yu's mouth twitched inexplicably, and then he raised his eyebrows and asked, "Is Mr. Taiyan under house arrest?"

"Yes!" Huang Kan said, "We have been trying to persuade him not to come to the capital, but the master didn't listen at all. He also said, 'Even if Yuan thief is tricking me, what's the point of fear? This is just a chance to scold Yuan thief!' A few days after arriving in the capital, he was put under house arrest in a house in Qianliang Hutong."

At the beginning of the Second Revolution, Zhang Taiyan wrote a piece of support for Yuan Xiu.

As a result, the second revolution failed quickly, and Zhang Taiyan was also targeted by Yuan Shikai.

Zhang Taiyan initially thought that he was not a firm ally of Sun and Huang, so he believed that Yuan Shikai would not do anything to him because of his several declarations.

It's just that one of Yuan Shikai's men, Chen Huan, one of Zhang Taiyan's extremely hated "sycophants", offered advice to let Zhang Taiyan, who was newly married, come to Beijing.

Yuan Shikai accepted his suggestion, and then discovered that Zhang Taiyan was speaking freely and immediately placed him under house arrest.

Naturally, he did not dare to attack Zhang Taiyan because Zhang was too famous in the academic world. During the Republic of China, warlords generally did not dare to mess with celebrities in academia for fear of being attacked by all walks of life, not to mention that Zhang Taiyan was still the leader in the Chinese academic community.

When he was looking for Fan Xudong before, Li Yu had been to Qianliang Hutong, and he was familiar with it this time.

Zhang Taiyan was placed under house arrest at No. 19 Qianliang Hutong, which was the former residence of the senior elite who signed the Treaty of Nanjing during the First Opium War.

——By the way, during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, this place was still one of the "Four Haunted Houses" in Beijing.

Yuan Shikai imprisoned Zhang Taiyan here and allowed him to study with "peace of mind". He was given several hundred yuan a month, and he was not prevented from visiting relatives and friends, but he was not allowed to go out.

When Li Yu and the others came to the door, they saw Zhang Taiyan arguing with the military police who were monitoring him.

But no matter what he said, the military police said: "You can't go out!"

Zhang Taiyan was so angry that he picked up his cane and hit him on the head. The military policeman screamed in pain and did not dare to fight back, so he could only duck to the side.

Zhang Taiyan laughed loudly and said, "I have asked Yuan Thief's lackey to be kicked out!"

The few people looked at it in disgust, and Huang Kan ran over and said, "Teacher, I have made you suffer!"

Zhang Taiyan said loudly: "Why bother? I feel so comfortable here!"

Obviously speaking to the military police.

Li Yu said to the military police: "We want to go in to visit Mr. Taiyan."

The military policeman covered his head and said: "Go quickly, go quickly, we must leave before evening!"

Several people entered the house and saw the word "Yuan Thief" in Mr. Taiyan's handwriting hanging on the wall. There were also some ashes on the ground, which should have been left by him after burning the paper with the word "Yuan Thief" written on it.

Lu Xun took the initiative to pick up the broom and help clean it. Zhang Taiyan shouted angrily: "Sweep it away and throw away all the ashes of Thief Yuan!"

Qian Xuantong said: "Teacher, please stop saying a few words, otherwise I'm really afraid that the Presidential Palace will be detrimental to you."

Zhang Taiyan said coldly: "The thief Yuan is unscrupulous and dares to kill Duchu (Song Jiaoren), but he may not dare to kill me, Zhang Binglin! If he dares to come out, I will fight to the death with him to avenge Duchu!"

Zhang Taiyan scolded people really harshly, calling him "Yuan Thief" to the left and "Yuan Thief" to the right. But the more he cursed, the less Yuan Shikai would kill him.

Zhang Taiyan is indeed a bit "crazy", but he is very bright inside.

His true nature also saved him this time.

Li Yu sighed: "Mr. Taiyan, I didn't expect you to be imprisoned in the Qing Dynasty, and now you are here again."

Zhang Taiyan was also speechless: "It's no different!"

Lu Xun said: "When I was working in the Ministry of Education, I heard that the Ministry of Internal Affairs was studying the matter of renovating the Temple of Heaven."

"Is it possible that Yuan Thief wants to sacrifice to heaven?" Zhang Taiyan said angrily, "That is what the emperor did! If he dares to have the idea of ​​proclaiming himself emperor, I, Zhang Binglin, will be incompatible with him! Fortunately, I regarded him as the hope of the country in the first place. How long ago, We have reached such a situation!"

Li Yu felt a little emotional. If Yuan Shikai had died of a uremia attack one or two years earlier, that is, in 1914, he would have definitely been called a great man. Pity.

Qian Xuantong said: "It's still uncertain now. I don't think he dares to go against the trend."

Huang Kan packed up his bedroll: "I will live here with the teacher from now on!"

Zhang Taiyan scolded: "Are you kidding? Do you really think that the military police outside are just decorations? They even have to monitor me when I eat. How could they let you stay at night?"

Huang Kan said: "Then I will come to see you during the day."

"Okay," Zhang Taiyan knew that he would not be able to get out for a while, so he said to Li Yu, "My newlywed wife has no one to take care of her in Shanghai. She likes to dance and write, and your wife is also a talented woman. I usually ask your wife to do a lot of things." Take care of it, she won’t cause any trouble.”

Historically, Tang Guoli did not live well during the three years that Zhang Taiyan was imprisoned.

Li Yu said: "Don't worry, Mr. Taiyan."

Zhang Taiyan sat back on the chair helplessly, and then thought: "By the way, can your wireless telegraph machine be able to communicate with the outside world at any time?"

Li Yu nodded: "Okay."

"Can you lend me one? I also tinker with it, otherwise my life would be too boring." Zhang Taiyan said.

Li Yu said: "It's a piece of cake. I'll have it delivered to your door tomorrow."

Zhang Taiyan said leisurely: "From now on, I, Zhang Binglin, will be a frog in the well."