"Can you see this?" Cixi became interested. Although she didn't know what a halo was, it was interesting to see Saturn.
In fact, the Qing court had telescopes for a long time. During the Qianlong period, some European telescopes were presented as tribute. However, with the wars in modern times, the palace became a mess and many of them were lost. Later, the Palace Museum once sorted out hundreds of palace telescopes, and of course some of them were later bought by Pu Yi for fun.
Lafayette's life was also quite "rough". He experienced major wars such as the Opium War, the Sino-French War, the Sino-Japanese War, and the Eight-Power Allied Forces. Therefore, for a long time he was disgusted and afraid of foreigners, so he didn't treat these Westerners very much. stuff.
Li Yu said: "Queen Mother, you only need to find a telescope, choose a location and place it. I will set the position for you. You can see the charming rings of Saturn through the eyepiece at the time I told you at night."
"So simple?" Cixi asked in surprise.
"Absolutely true!"
Ci Xi looked at Yi Kuang and found that he seemed to have full confidence in Li Yu, so she said to Li Lianying: "Okay, Ai Jia will try as you said. Little Liz, you go look for it. I remember that I asked you to use the telescope." Put it up."
"twitter!"
Li Lianying worked very quickly and was familiar with every corner of the palace. He quickly brought the telescope with two young eunuchs.
Li Yu observed it and found that it was a Newtonian reflecting telescope. It was very well made and its imaging effect was much better than the earliest refracting telescope made by Galileo.
"Your Majesty, wait a moment."
Li Yu picked up the telescope and said to the little eunuch next to Li Lianying: "Please help me carry a table and a chair, please."
The two young eunuchs glanced at Li Lianying. Li Lianying was also happy to make Cixi happy, so she said: "Just do as he said."
After receiving the order, the young eunuch lifted up the table and chairs and followed Li Yu to the outside of the hall.
Cixi was a little curious and looked outside through the window. Li Lianying immediately opened the window for her.
Li Yu put the telescope on the table and calculated the time and direction. Saturn's trajectory is not complicated and its brightness is extremely high, making it very easy to observe. It is located in the southeast constellation Leo, slowly rises after sunset, and is visible all night long.
Li Yu quickly completed the settings and returned to the palace and said: "Queen Mother, after the sun goes down, you can sit on the chair and observe the beautiful rings of Saturn."
"So fast? I thought this troublesome thing was troublesome. Okay, the Ai family will take a look tonight."
Cixi was indeed too bored in the palace. Everyday things were very fixed, and she was a little happy when something new suddenly happened. As for the matter of changing into a monkey, she didn't care about it for now. She was really looking forward to stargazing at night.
"If it's true as you said, the Ai family will definitely be rewarded."
"Thank you, Queen Mother!" Li Yu said confidently.
In fact, I feel a little bit guilty in my heart. I should be rewarded for such a simple little thing. As a graduate student who is familiar with modern astronomical science, I feel a little bit insulted.
But this idea quickly disappeared, why don’t you give me money?
After leaving Xiyuan, Yikuang was very satisfied with Li Yu's performance, "I didn't expect you have a bit of Zhuge Kongming's style, and you can observe the sky at night!"
Li Yu smiled and said: "If the prince wants to see it, just find a telescope and I can let you see it."
"Very good! I have to look through the telescope anyway."
Timothy Richard felt that Li Yu really had a problem. Although it was easy for him to observe the rings of Saturn, to be able to derive an ingenious, simple and effective solution from Cixi's problem in such a short period of time required a very flexible mind. .
"It's exactly what the newspaper said! Now I really want you to go to my Shanxi University."
Li Yu laughed and said, "The bishop is too praised!"
Yikuang had to go back to the Prime Minister's Yamen to handle official business, while Timothy had to go to the Ministry of Rites to communicate about the school, so the three of them said goodbye and left.
Li Yu first went to Tongwenguan to find Ding Hailiang and asked him for the mailing address of the Royal Society. This time he was really embarrassed to ask him to pay again. Ding Naoliang also warned him not to forget to go to HSBC Bank to withdraw money, as the royalties had already been sent to him from the UK.
Li Yu went out and took a rickshaw, and it happened that the driver was the same rickshaw driver. His business was mainly concentrated in this area.
Li Yu first asked him to take him to HSBC Bank. He passed several bookstalls on the way and the business was very prosperous.
Li Yu asked curiously: "Why do everyone love reading so much now?"
The driver said as he ran: "Just in the past two days, all kinds of "Journey to the West" are selling like crazy on bookstalls everywhere."
"'Journey to the West'?"
"Yes, haven't you heard that the Queen Mother is the reincarnation of Monkey King!"
Damn it!
"You stop at the bookstall in front and I'll go take a look!"
Li Yu got out of the car and came to the bookstall. Two of the three tables had "New Journey to the West" on them.
This is the only complete 100-chapter version of "Journey to the West" published in the Qing Dynasty, and it plays an important role in the evolution of "Journey to the West" editions.
It's just that the title of the book "The Queen Mother's New Journey to the West" has two more words: "The Queen Mother". Together, it becomes "The Queen Mother's New Journey to the West".
The little bookseller kept selling to the people next to him: "According to reliable information, the Queen Mother is a disciple of Patriarch Bodhi, and the Monkey King is also the disciple! Not only can he fly into the clouds and ride on the mist, but he can also control the wind and rain! What's even more powerful is that he has fiery eyes and golden eyes. Three heads and six arms! If you want to know the secret, read "The Queen Mother's New Journey to the West"!
Li Yu picked up a book and flipped through it. The unpleasant smell of ink almost made him unable to open his eyes. The paper of the book was very poor, and the printing quality was even worse. Many places were blurry and dark, not to mention missing parts. There are fewer pages.
At first glance, it looked like a "pirated book" from a small bookstore, and it was also a defective product that had been rushed out.
Piracy of novels was indeed rampant in the late Qing Dynasty, and the court did little. It was not until two years later in 1904 that Li Boyuan, the author of "The Appearance of Officialdom", successfully won his first copyright lawsuit, but there were still no specific legal provisions to restrict it.
The punishment given to the pirates was very small, just three days in the shackles, and it only punished the bookstore manager and did not touch the real legal person behind it. Of course, it is also possible that the Qing government did not dare because the legal person of the book club was Japanese.
Even if it is a pirated book and the price is not low, people still pay for it from time to time. After all, it is indeed much cheaper than the hardcover book in a regular library.
Li Yu walked away in embarrassment. He didn't expect that his first few words would trigger a chain reaction, which would lead to the huge sales of "Journey to the West". It was really dumbfounding!
It can only be said that it has made a small contribution to the popularization of the four classics!
