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

Chapter 8 Completely convinced
Martin took Li Yu and Fan Xiren to his office, which can be called a small library, and the bookshelves behind the wall are full of original English books.

Speaking of it, the price of books in ancient times was extremely high, and ordinary people could not afford it at all.

For example, Zeng Guofan, as a super diary writer, once recorded all the trivial things in life in detail. He once wrote about his various daily expenses:
In 1841, Zeng Guofan lived in Beijing, renting a house cost 10000 Wen, which is the monthly rent, and there were 18 rooms in total;

Then I bought two catties of fresh meat and spent 40 Wen;
I bought another set of "The Complete Book of Zhu Zi", which cost 4000 texts!
There are many other items listed, such as leather boots worth 1000 liters, roast duck worth 500 liters, and door curtains worth 1000 liters.

It can be seen from the above three relatively special ones that two and a half sets of "Zhuzi Quanshu" can rent a big house with 18 rooms in Beijing for one month!

What a concept!
And later Zeng Guofan bought another set of "The Essence of Zishi", which also cost 4000 articles!
Although these two books are tomes, one book can buy 200 catties of pork!It is easy for ordinary people to choose between the two - to use a popular saying, ribs are not delicious?

Even in modern times it is hard to understand!

Perhaps this is also one of the reasons for the extremely high illiteracy rate in ancient times. It is difficult for a poor family to produce a precious son!
The above are only the prices of domestically published books. If it is the original English books on Martin’s shelf, the prices are even more incomparably high.

Of course, the current English original books are not cheap, but compared with the late Qing Dynasty, they are nothing.

Ding Weiliang asked Li Yu and Fan Xiren to sit down directly, and introduced himself: "My surname is Ding, my first name is Weiliang, my surname is Guanxi, and my ancestral home is the United States of America."

For his status, it is a very high etiquette to introduce himself, after all, Ding Weiliang now has the third rank of the imperial court.

Li Yu and Fan Xiren quickly stood up and bowed to salute, and then introduced themselves again.

Li Yu recalled it now, "Guanxi"!
Good guy, Ding Guanxi, it's interesting!
Martin and Li Yu talked about science-related topics again. Li Yu is very good at these aspects. He talked about the double-slit experiment to the spectrum theory, from the formula of universal gravitation to Kepler's three laws, and from the complex number space to Eugene. Lahenge's equation...

For more than two hours, not to mention Shi Deming, the physics teacher, even Martin Ting couldn't keep up with the rhythm, interrupting Li Yu from time to time, and then rummaged through the books corresponding to the theory from the bookshelf behind him to find confirmation.

In fact, Li Yu is already in control of himself. What he talks about is the latest scientific research achievements of the nineteenth century, and there is no "super-class".If it comes to the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, they are even more unacceptable, and these two things have not yet been born, and they are still "two dark clouds" at this moment. It is too shocking to speak out.

Even so, Martin himself has never learned many things, such as the double-slit experiment and Euler's identity, he just knows it, and has never studied it. It takes time to find books on the bookshelf, and Li Yu helped him several times Find the corresponding book.

Martin was completely convinced: I am afraid that this guy could be a professor in a Western university!

However, Martin did not have such strong resources to directly recommend him to foreign universities, and it would take time to further verify Li Yu's level.

He was going to keep this talent, turned around and exchanged a few words in a low voice with the physics professor Shi Deming, and then said to Li Yu: "In view of your excellent scientific literacy, I now sincerely invite you to take the entrance examination for the Imperial University in a few months. , Of course, this kind of exam will be extremely easy for you."

In 1902, the first enrollment of Peking University after the resumption of school can be said to be the first official enrollment in the history of Peking University, because the first two years were indeed a failure, and coupled with the disturbance of such a big event as the Gengzi National Calamity, Almost even the university hall is gone.

For Li Yu, it was also quite a temptation. Thinking about it, I still feel a little bit of expectation. It feels so strange to be able to return to the original alma mater as the first batch of alumni.

But after thinking about it, he still doesn't have a formal Qing Dynasty household registration, so he is a "refugee" after all.

Weiliang Ding seemed to see Li Yu's hidden worries. Just now he said that he was just a librarian, so he said, "I will personally write a letter of recommendation for you to help you get formal qualifications."

This was a great help to Li Yu, and if he was really sleepy, he would give him a pillow—whatever he wished for!
Li Yu had no reason to refuse, and bowed: "Thank you, Chief Teacher!"

Ding Weiliang thought for a while and then said: "There is one more thing. Some time ago, the Prime Minister Yiqian asked me to find a scholar from your country who is proficient in Western learning to work as a student in his house. Because of his noble status, I have not found a suitable one. Now, I think you are the right candidate, what do you think?"

Before Li Yu could respond, Fan Xiren beside him was already stunned: "Yi...you mean Prince Qing?"

Ding Weiliang nodded: "Yes, it is Prince Qing of your country."

"My God!" Fan Xiren grasped Li Yu's arm, "Brother, you are going to get rich!"

Prince Qing Yikuang is now the absolute real power faction, he was also named "Iron Hat King" a few years ago, hereditary.

In the Qing Dynasty, there were only twelve Qin hat kings in total. The first eight were founding heroes, and they were basically Nurhachi's brothers and descendants.

Then until the Yongzheng period, he established his thirteenth brother as the king of the iron hat; as for the last three, they were all from the "Yi" generation in the late Qing Dynasty, that is, the generation of Xianfeng, namely Prince Gong Yi and Prince Chun Yi. Xuan (xuan), and Prince Qing Yikui.

Prince Gong Yi is the most famous and capable. He is known as the Devil Six. He is the first one to establish and run the Prime Minister's Office of State Affairs for the longest time.

Prince Chun Yixuan is mediocre, but his wife is well married, and she is Cixi's younger sister.The son born was really blessed, and was directly selected by Cixi as emperor, that is, Guangxu.Not only that, Puyi, the last emperor of the late Qing Dynasty, was also his grandson!He is the son of his fifth son Zaifeng.

I am not an emperor, but my son and grandson are both emperors, and they are also strange people!
But because of this, Yizhen has been in fear for the rest of his life. Like Guangxu, he lived under the shadow of Cixi.

Now that these two have passed away, Prince Qing Yikuang has become the only surviving "generation" iron hat king.

Yikuang's ability is also very average, but if you have seen the photos, you can find that Yikuang and his descendants are very handsome, and it can be said that they are responsible for the beauty of the Qing clan.

Of course, he is not really useless. The most powerful thing about Prince Qing Yikuang is accumulating money. He can be called a "financial management" expert. When selling an official, the price is clearly marked.Moreover, he saw the advantages of foreign banks very early on, and deposited all his money in foreign banks, which can be said to be very advanced.

　In ancient times, not only books, but cultural supplies were not cheap.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)