Uchida Yasuya and Toyama Mitsuru just sat and left without drinking a sip of wine. Li Yu had no need to keep them.
At this time, Gu Hongming was already having a great time drinking with Zhu Yuxun and Yang Xiaolou.
After drinking and eating, Gu Hongming remembered that he had something serious to do with Li Yu: "Brother Shucai, there is an exam to study in Japan recently. It requires mathematics and physics. The local government can't organize it. It has already caused trouble in the capital. There is also Huguang here. The letter from Lord Governor Zhang Zhidong asks you to deal with it by name."
Li Yu unfolded the letter, and it turned out to be Zhang Zhidong's own handwriting.
It turned out that at this time, Japan had won the Russo-Japanese War, and the imperial court had just abolished the imperial examination. Now studying abroad, especially in Japan, had become very popular, and the imperial court also wanted to organize a group of people to study in Japan at public expense.
But now the promotion of new learning has not been spread at all. Many people don’t know anything, and even the examiners don’t know how to ask questions. This really stumps academic administrators across the country.
Zhang Zhidong is a typical person who attaches great importance to education. Even though the two lakes areas are currently not as advanced as Tianjin and Shanghai in terms of new learning, Zhang Zhidong is very active and has obtained four places for the two lakes areas.
As for the selection examination, it is divided into three subjects: Chinese, Japanese and mathematics.
Of course, it goes without saying that there are many great Confucian scholars in the Lianghu area and Yuelu Academy. For Japanese, there are translators to help, but mathematics and science are more troublesome.
Originally, Zhang Zhidong also had brothers Hua Hengfang and Hua Shifang, but now that Hua Hengfang has passed away and Hua Shifang has returned to his hometown, there is really no one who understands mathematics.
Zhang Zhidong thought that those who passed the exam would go to the capital no matter what, and the capital university would organize the overseas study, so Zhang Zhidong left the matter to Li Yu.
Li Yu certainly couldn't refuse Zhang Xiangshuai, so he asked Gu Hongming: "Where are the students now?"
Gu Hongming said: "Don't worry, they will arrive in the capital after the New Year."
The Beijing-Hankou Railway has basically been opened to traffic. At present, the transportation between Beijing and Wuhan is much more convenient than Beijing to Shanghai.
After the New Year and the Lantern Festival, this group of people immediately arrived in the capital.
The person in charge of the assessment was Lin Shu, the deputy director-general of the Translation Institute of the Capital University Hall, but he really had a headache after seeing the dozen or so people who came: there were not only the children of some local officials, but also the nephew of General Jingzhou.
General Jingzhou was one of the nine other generals in the Qing Dynasty besides the five garrison generals, who managed the Eight Banners garrisoning in Hubei. Although the Eight Banners' combat effectiveness has become a joke, the official position itself is still quite high.
Li Yu also had a headache after reading the list. Are you really convinced that you are engaging in educational corruption just after implementing the new learning? It is clear that the noble disciples want to take the top spot.
These people are not good at academics, but they must know that after the abolition of the imperial examination, university graduates and international students will definitely be the "Jinshi" in the future. Taking advantage of the fact that it has just begun, many people want to fish in troubled waters and get in.
Li Yu asked: "Do they understand Japanese and mathematics?"
Lin Shu said: "I have inquired carefully. These noble children can speak a little Japanese, but they know nothing about mathematics, and they can't even talk about physics."
Li Yu asked again: "How is Hubei's academic affairs handled?"
"What can be done?" Lin Shu asked helplessly, "The examiners in Hubei don't understand mathematics either. They only asked questions in Chinese and Japanese, leaving mathematics and science for the students to figure out on their own."
"Trying to get into the camp?" Li Yu understood immediately, "Don't you just want them to give you red envelopes?"
"You are absolutely right," Lin Shu spread his hands and said, "As soon as I took over this matter, people crowded in front of my house. The nephew of General Jingzhou even sent someone to come to me with gold. The golden , it almost blinded me so early in the morning."
Li Yu said awkwardly: "It's too blatant."
"Under the Emperor's feet, they have been very restrained," Lin Shu sighed. "It was only during the Hubei exam that they were blatant. Otherwise, how could they have brought the matter to the capital."
Li Yu asked: "What's going on?"
Lin Shu said: "The Imperial Master has been to Hubei. He should know that there are actually some primary schools in Hubei that deal with new learning, so there are still people who have learned new learning. These people saw this situation and the examiner was so fooled. They deceived the court and deceived the candidates, making them even more angry. But after they asked the examiner why there were no math and science test questions, the examiner said that the questions were missing, and that they had forgotten the questions. In short, they kept trying to blame each other."
Li Yu can understand this situation. It will take at least ten years to train this batch of new students. Therefore, the current examiners are basically all from the imperial examination, and it is really difficult for them to formulate mathematics questions.
But being difficult is one thing, messing with the examination system is another.
The previous imperial examinations and the current examinations were one of the few fair opportunities, and it was really shameless to interfere with them.
Li Yu continued to ask: "Are these students who have learned new skills here too?"
"Of course, they are the ones who caused the trouble. You see," Lin Shu pointed, "the new student in the lead is the one named Shen Honglie."
Shen Honglie emerged at the age of twenty and later became an admiral and mayor of Qingdao. After Han Fuju was executed, he took charge of Shandong.
However, this person came under the influence of the principal in the late period of the Anti-Japanese War, and during the brutal sweep period, he became passively anti-Japanese and anti-communist.
But this person could have fought for it if he had intervened earlier.
Li Yu asked: "Looking at the attire, is it from the Hubei New Army?"
"It's true. He passed the scholar examination in his early years and later studied in the New Army's Armed Forces School. He liked mathematics very much," Lin Shu said. "This big-headed soldier was restless. He actually openly raised the question in the examination room. Since there is no one to write the questions, he should write the questions. But in the examination room, it is the most ridiculous thing in the world for the candidates to write the questions for them!"
Li Yu also smiled: "It's indeed a bit inappropriate. What did the examiner say?"
Lin Shu said: "The examiner really didn't understand mathematics, so after careful consideration, he asked him to draft two mathematics questions first. Then the examiner posted them in the examination room, but he didn't expect that the distinguished disciples couldn't do them all, so he strongly objected. The examiner With no other choice, he announced, "Although these two test questions are good, they seem to be too profound for you and other Green Camp candidates, so I drafted two more questions and submitted them." But after Shen Honglie drafted two more questions, the distinguished disciples still couldn't answer them. If they just follow the instructions If the question is set like this, Shen Honglie will definitely come out on top, so the examiner will ask him to draft the question again."
Li Yu was speechless. One can imagine the chaos in the selection of new students everywhere. "Is the question he asked for the third time still unanswered?"
Lin Shu nodded: "Moreover, Shen Honglie also said, 'This is the most simple question in modern mathematics. The following questions are ordinary addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Even people like selling milk can solve it. It is really inconvenient to use it as a test question.' At this point, the examiner had no choice but to admit it, but when it came to the final paper, almost all the other candidates turned in blank papers.”
Li Yu said: "It seems that he still won the first place, why did he make trouble in the capital again?"
"You're wrong!" Lin Shu sighed heavily, "When the rankings were finally released, Shen Honglie was not only not ranked first, he was not even among the top four."
Li Yu was surprised: "There are only four places, so wouldn't he fail?"
"That's why Shen Honglie is not convinced. When it comes to Chinese, he has the foundation of a scholar; when it comes to Japanese, everyone is about the same; when it comes to mathematics, he is the only one with perfect scores, so how can he lose his reputation?"
"It's too dark!" Li Yu said, "Okay, in that case, I will comment."
Lin Shu said: "Great! You are now the Supervisor of the New Scholarship, a foreign academician of the Royal Society and a Nobel Prize winner. It is best for you to be responsible for the review."
Li Yu said: "Let's talk about it first. I can grade Japanese and mathematics, but only other people can make the decision for Chinese subjects."
Lin Shu said, "Don't worry, I understand this. I'll leave the Chinese grading to Master Gu."
Li Yuxian was coming over. He took a look at the three test questions given by Shen Honglie. They were not difficult in fact. The first time was a function question and a geometry question, which were roughly at the level of the third grade of junior high school. The second time was a trigonometric function question and an equation question, which were still the same. Junior high school level.
As for the third time, it was a quadratic equation of one variable, and even the discriminants were listed in the question.
Li Yu stepped forward and said: "This time, the questions will be given by the Capital University Hall, and the results will be determined by an exam. If you are still dissatisfied, you can only go to Bauhinia City to file a petition."
Someone below immediately asked loudly: "Are you the examiner?"
Li Yu said: "There is no examiner in the new learning examination, because you have just started in the new learning."
Li Yu asked several questions according to the high school entrance examination level, and the final results were released. As expected, Shen Honglie still won the first place.
As a result, Shen Honglie got the opportunity to study in Japan. He was very grateful to Li Yu and came to express his gratitude. However, Li Yu still used the same rhetoric as before: "The new examination is different from the previous imperial examination. There is no such thing as a disciple. "
Shen Honglie expressed his admiration: "The Imperial Master understands the righteousness deeply, Honglie will bear it in his heart!"
Li Yu said: "In the future, just study hard in Japan and don't think too much about other things."
——
A few days later, the magazines Li Yu ordered from abroad were shipped to China.
When he went to the post office to pick up the package, the postman was very surprised: "You have to pay so much postage for a few books, and you can buy a big house in the village with just a dozen silver coins."
Li Yu would definitely not explain to them any more, so he took the magazine and went home.
This issue of Germany's "Annals of Physics" is particularly important. It publishes Einstein's paper "On the Electrodynamics of Objects" where he published the special theory of relativity. Among other things, it has great collection value.
Einstein, a small third-level patent officer, could publish a paper in this kind of journal. The review and signature of Li Yu as the second author and Planck, an academician of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, are very critical.
It's just...it seems like it still hasn't attracted enough attention.
Because his theory is so advanced, not only ordinary people, but even the current top physicists, few can truly understand time.
And Einstein now directly turned time and space into time and space, which is beyond everyone's understanding.
Someone even joked: "If time could be lengthened or shortened at will, then all Swiss watchmakers would be unemployed."
Another heavyweight mass-energy formula was published in a subsequent issue of the magazine, but it has not yet been sent to the capital.
Li Yu definitely wanted to support Einstein, so he wrote an article, which mainly demonstrated the mathematical rigor of the Lorentz transformation and its physical significance; and then discussed why time and space can be related to each other instead of being independent. exist.
Li Yu sent the letter to Germany, but it took a month to reach Einstein's hands at the Patent Office in Bern, Switzerland.
At present, Einstein's life has not changed fundamentally. However, after receiving the title of doctorate, he was promoted to a professional title and his salary was increased.
But his desire to become a university physics professor and focus on physics remained unfulfilled.
After Li Yu finished sending the letter, another batch of radio equipment shipped from the United States arrived in Hong Kong. The sales of this stuff are now frighteningly good, but Li Yu still prioritizes ensuring the domestic market. Beiyang has indeed given a lot of orders, and the prices offered are also good.
As for whether they really make money, the Japanese and Russians are lining up with prices that are several times higher.
But I didn't expect that as soon as this batch of goods arrived in the capital, many people started to oppose it.
Li Yu didn't take it seriously at first, but things quickly became serious.
Many people blocked the train transporting radio equipment at the station, including people from the Federation of Industry and Commerce, officials from the government, and even some students, students from the New School.
Yan Fu and Gu Hongming hurried to Li Yu's house, but Li Yu was already preparing to start the car and go. The matter was urgent, so he could only talk while driving on the road.
Li Yu was confused: "Okay, why do students want to block my equipment?"
Yan Fu said: "Don't you know yet? Now the entire Zhili region, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Nanjing are boycotting American goods."
"Boycott...American goods?" Li Yu asked in surprise.
Yan Fu said: "Yes, a year ago the unequal treaty "China-U.S. Agreement on Restrictions on Chinese Workers in the United States and Protection of Chinese Residing in the United States" expired, and Liang Cheng, the Minister to China, made a request to change the treaty, but the United States flatly refused and still Maintain the anti-Chinese policy.”
Li Yu suddenly felt that the matter was very difficult. When the car passed by some shops near Dongjiaomin Lane, they even put up signs saying "This store does not sell American goods."
Li Yu understood that they must have regarded their radio equipment as American goods.
When the car arrived at Zhengyangmen Railway Station, the resisting crowd immediately surrounded us.
"The traitor is here!"
"Kill the traitors who sell American goods!"
"His hair and clothes look like a foreigner, he is a foreigner from the very beginning!"
"..."
Along with the curse, some rotten vegetable leaves and rotten eggs were thrown over.
With quick eyes and quick hands, Li Yu grabbed an egg that rushed towards his head, but the egg broke into pieces in his hand, and the egg white mixed with the yolk splashed all over his face and into his mouth.
Li Yu spit out, "Oh no, what I got was fresh eggs, not like ordinary people."
Li Yu jumped up, stood on the roof of the car and shouted angrily: "Quiet! Do you know what is in this car? Although they are shipped from the United States, they are all produced by my company in the United States. They They are not simply American products! Moreover, radio equipment is the most advanced thing now, a milestone in modern technology, and..."
Li Yu's words were interrupted, and he could only reach out to block some more vegetable leaves that were thrown at him.
The person below yelled angrily: "Fuck you! It's all written in foreign words, and you say it's not an American product? Since it's a Chinese product, why not write it in Chinese!"
"You are a national sinner and a traitor!"
Li Yu threw the rotten vegetable leaves back, and then shouted back: "Which of you can tell that I am a traitor? If we don't use American factories and workers, these things can't be made at all. Besides, I have a lot of experience in American factories." Some of them are Chinese workers! If you don’t think about why you can’t build it yourself, you are smashing my equipment here. Ask yourself, who is the national sinner?”
But the people below didn’t buy it at all: “You are the sinner of the nation, stop talking so cleverly! We can naturally create it!”
Li Yuqi smiled: "What do you use to make it? Do you know what a triode is, what frequency modulation is, and what a superheterodyne circuit is? You don't even understand English, what do you use to make it?"
"Stop doing this! You are a coward! You only know how to learn from foreigners!"
Li Yu remembered the words in that movie, even more so a hundred years ago. Li Yu shouted loudly: "What's the difference between you and 60 years ago when foreigners came in through the Opium War? If others are better than you, just go to them." He studies until one day you are stronger than him, and then he can fight back confidently!"
But no matter how clear Li Yu said it, the people below had been carried away and couldn't listen at all.
Li Yu was also furious. Fortunately, Yan Fu was very calm and sat motionless in the car. Gu Hongming on the side sighed: "It is really not easy for Li Yu. It is impossible to reason with these arrogant people."
Yan Fu said, "Why haven't the military and police arrived yet?"
Gu Hongming asked: "Did you find officers and soldiers?"
Yan Fu said: "It is the newly established police department, and there are people from Beiyang in it. If we don't come here, I'm afraid these people will really start to take action."
(End of chapter)
