It took two years to finally repair the Beijing Observatory.
One of the telescopes was purchased by Li Yu with the help of the Royal Society, which cost a lot of money. Of course, the money came from the imperial court.
However, due to limited knowledge, the budget approved by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development is not high, so this astronomical telescope can only be used as a makeshift one.
When Li Yu came to this observatory, he found that at least half of the area inside was filled with various observatory instruments from a hundred years ago. Intuitively, it looked similar to an ancient calendar institution.
The other smaller half is the observatory, which combines ancient and modern styles more like an astronomical museum.
But Li Yu had already guessed that it would be this kind of design and agreed at the beginning.
Even though these "old antiques" don't seem to have much observational value, they were all won by Li Yu.
Also coming to inspect the completion of the observatory was Fu Zengxiang, who came from Beiyang.
This old man who later became the librarian of the Palace Museum and the director of education was very interested in Western learning. It is impossible to learn mathematics, and there is no need to expect physics, but astronomy at least seems to be more "approachable" to ordinary people.
"of.
Fu Zengxiang pointed to these century-old astronomical instruments and said: "The imperial court greatly appreciated you for getting these things back from Germany."
Li Yu said: "Thanks to the Pope of the Vatican, I really didn't expect that the energy of the church is still so great."
"Pope? Vatican?" Fu Zengxiang asked doubtfully.
Li Yu explained: “When I was in Europe, I went to Italy and joined the newly established Pontifical Academy of Sciences. At that time, I put forward a condition, hoping that the Holy See would help recover some lost cultural relics. In addition, I also mentioned something in the newspaper.
Publish."
"Vatican Academy of Sciences?" Fu Zengxiang said with a smile, "The Roman Church is really interesting. I never thought of it. It's like the Shaolin Temple has a Physics Academy in addition to the Luohan Hall and the Discipline Academy. The Taoist Temple not only enshrines the Three Purities but also has a
Newton."
Li Yu was also happy: "It is indeed a bit incompatible, but I am soft on others. Since the Pope has met my request, I can only choose to join."
Fu Zengxiang said: "It is indeed not easy to come back. The area where the old observatory was located was controlled by the German army during the Gengzi Incident. They took the opportunity to kidnap the instruments. It is said that these things should be in Germany. I didn't expect that the Holy See in Rome could also influence
To such a powerful Germany."
Historically, these astronomical instruments were not recovered until 1920 because of the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles.
It is said that these exquisitely crafted instruments have been displayed in the garden of Potsdam - the place where Truman, Churchill and their loving father Stalin later met.
Li Yu said: "Germany is, after all, a stronghold of the Catholic Church. There are tens of thousands of churches on hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land. The Catholic Pope's prestige in Germany is extraordinary."
Fu Zengxiang said: "I am ashamed. I have never been abroad and I don't know much about the details of Europe."
The two of them quickly visited the observatory. Li Yu said to him, "Are you interested in using an astronomical telescope to see the sky?"
"I don't understand, so there's no need to be busy," Fu Zengxiang said, "I came to see you for other things."
Li Yu said: "Sir, please speak."
Fu Zengxiang said: "Governor Yuan asked me to invite your lady to come out."
"Come out of the mountain?" Li Yu asked, "Come out of what mountain?"
Fu Zengxiang took out a document: "Zhili has built a Beiyang Girls' Public School. The governor wants a knowledgeable woman to be the head teacher. After much thought, the most suitable one can only be Mrs. Bicheng."
Li Yu immediately replied: "Of course, revitalizing women's education has always been her wish."
Fu Zengxiang said: "Considering the two new loves, Yan'er, I feel really sorry."
Li Yu said: "Beijing and Tianjin are not far apart. It only takes half a day to go back and forth by train."
Fu Zengxiang praised: "Brother Shucai is so broad-minded. Ordinary people would not let his newlywed wife do things in public. Moreover, she is as beautiful as a flower."
Li Yu smiled and said: "It's a girls' public school anyway, so there's nothing to worry about."
Fu Zengxiang said: "The Governor-General has said that if Shucai agrees, he can give two people free permanent rides on the Beijing-Tianjin Railway."
"You are quite thoughtful," Li Yu said.
"That's not true," Fu Zengxiang said. "With your lady in charge, I can call my brothers Shucai to come to class from time to time. You are the emperor's teacher and a giant in science. How beautiful!"
"What a wishful thinking," Li Yu said. "Since Tianjin already has a girls' public school, we should also suggest that the capital should also set up a girls' public school."
"It's a very constructive proposal," Fu Zengxiang said. "Brother Shucai can write a letter, and I will submit a letter together with several ministers from Beiyang."
"I have never written a book before. Xiongtai wrote it, and I just signed it." Li Yu said.
Fu Zengxiang said: "Okay, I will start writing today and come back to Brother Shucai tomorrow."
After Li Yu returned home, she told Lu Bicheng that Beiyang Women's Public School asked her to be the head teacher. Lu Bicheng felt a little hesitant after hearing this.
Li Yu knew what she was thinking, and encouraged her: "Don't worry, I support you, and Mr. Yuan also gave you a permanent free right to use the railway."
Lu Bicheng bit her lip: "Really?"
"What's wrong?" Li Yu said, "With more people traveling between the two places, I will often go to Tianjin. I just happen to buy a property in Tianjin."
Lu Bicheng was very excited and said happily: "Thank you! I really didn't misjudge the person."
Li Yu smiled and said, "Even if I'm wrong, it's too late now."
Lu Bicheng was a little dazed again: "I don't know if I can do it well. I have never been a teacher."
"It's probably just some regular courses that can help them learn to read and write. It would be better if they can further add general education in the future," Li Yu said.
"That sounds good, otherwise I wouldn't have the skills to be a teacher," Lu Bicheng said. "Will you also give lectures in the future? I still can't teach general education."
Li Yu joked: "The girls' public schools are full of yellow-flowered girls, so you don't worry about me?"
"I know who you are. And I'm sure." Lu Bicheng was actually quite confident.
Seeing that the atmosphere was about to get tense, Fengling suddenly came outside and said, "Sir, Zhu Guozhen wants to see you."
Li Yu calmed down and said, "I'll come right away."
Zhu Guozhen usually helps run Li Yu's factory. This time he came to report some progress. He said: "The production of new condiments, new fried dough cakes and enamel abrasive tools is now operational."
"The action is quite fast." Li Yu praised.
Zhu Guozhen said: "Wherever you can work as a long-term worker now, you can get so much money, and everyone is very motivated."
Li Yu said: "In the future, don't call us long-term workers. Those who work part-time will be called workers."
"Everything depends on the general office," Zhu Guozhen said. "In addition, the imperial court is planning to set up a Quanye Market. Should our products be exhibited at the exhibition?"
Li Yu nodded: "I will definitely go and ask the factory to stock up. The sales will definitely be very good."
The "Quanyechang" mentioned by Zhu Guozhen was later the most prosperous Tianjin Quanyechang in the Tianjin Concession. It originally came from the words "Encourage our compatriots to prosper, be diligent in their work, develop business, and the market will become more and more new".
After the two of them studied the prepared samples, Zhu Guozhen took out a mathematics textbook by Li Yu that he carried with him and said, "Master Emperor, I still have a few questions that I would like to ask you."
Li Yu found that this handout was crumpled. It was obvious that Zhu Guozhen often took it with him to study and studied very hard. He turned to the trigonometric function section and said: "There are so many formulas, I am confused."
Li Yu was surprised. In less than two years, he had already learned trigonometric functions. Once these people who had won the Jinshi degree started learning, they really worked hard. And those who could get the Jinshi degree were definitely not ordinary people. As long as they put in the effort
If you have enough time, I dare not say that it will be absolutely easy to reach the level of a doctoral student and reach the level of a normal college student in future generations.
Li Yu only glanced at it and said: "There are indeed many induction formulas, but it is simple to remember one formula. Change odd to even unchanged, and look at the quadrants for symbols."
Zhu Guozhen's head was buzzing, "It sounds like a spell."
Li Yu took out a pen and paper and talked to him for a while, and he finally understood.
"As expected of an imperial master! He can explain such complicated things so thoroughly!" Zhu Guozhen opened another notebook of his own, "I still have one question, and I have been confused for a long time."
Zhu Guozhen's notes were written with a fountain pen, and his handwriting was very beautiful in regular script. It seems that he had been practicing hard pen writing during this period, and his handwriting was much prettier than that of Li Yu.
There's nothing I can do about it, who can call someone good at calligraphy?
Zhu Guozhen said: "I suddenly discovered that the cycle of 0.9 seems to be equal to 1, which is strange! You see, 1/3=0.3 cycle, and then 3x1/3=1, doesn't it mean that the cycle of 0.9 is equal to 1? It's simply
Incomprehensible."
Good guy, although it seems very simple, Li Yu really can't answer it.
This question is very famous, and it is a typical example of "a sentence that angers civil society".
The solution mentioned by Zhu Guozhen is obviously wrong because it is a circular argument and is not mathematically rigorous at all.
Li Yu smiled bitterly: "You'd better not worry about this problem, because to understand it requires very advanced mathematical theory."
Zhu Guozhen said: "But I have finished studying the entire mathematics lecture notes."
Li Yu said: "For mathematics, this is just an introduction."
Zhu Guozhen was a little desperate: "Just getting started? How much have you started?"
Li Yu thought for a while and said: "If mathematics is as high as Mount Taishan, let's count it as 7,000 steps. This book is only equivalent to climbing dozens of steps."
Zhu Guozhen opened his mouth wide: "Then what year and month will we learn?"
"There's no one on the top of the mountain right now! And you don't need to learn that level. If you can go up dozens of steps, that's enough." Li Yu said.
Zhu Guozhen asked: "May I ask what level the emperor's master is?"
"Do you mean mathematics?" Li Yu said, "It's probably only a few hundred steps, and it's still early to get to the top of the mountain."
"Even you are so far behind?" Zhu Guozhen couldn't believe it.
Li Yu said: "Mathematics is special. Who calls me the queen of science?"
Zhu Guozhen sat down helplessly: "Wanting to marry this queen is really like ascending to heaven."
Li Yu smiled and said: "You are not timid yet, you want to marry the queen."
"It's a joke," Zhu Guozhen said, "but why can I find this seemingly simple mathematical problem that even you can't solve?"
It is really difficult to explain why the cycle of 0.9 is equal to 1. To really prove it, you need to use the content of "Real Analysis", a professional course in college mathematics.
At this point in time, the only one who can handle it is Dedekind, the great mathematician from Germany.
Li Yu said helplessly: "Goldbach's conjecture and Fermat's conjecture sound very simple, but even the best mathematicians in the world cannot answer them at the moment."
After another explanation, Zhu Guozhen was finally not demotivated and decided to continue studying science.
Li Yuting lamented that at his age, he would be at least a graduate student in later generations, but he had to start from scratch to study various subjects, and he didn't know how many steps he would lose at the starting line.
But Zhu Guozhen said enthusiastically: "The sage said that it is enough to hear the Tao in the morning and die in the evening. I am not very old, so why say it too late?"
Li Yu encouraged: "In the future, you can go to the University Hall to audit courses, and I allow you to audit the Tsinghua University School to be built in the future."
But Zhu Guozhen said: "Tsinghua? What kind of unknown school is this? If you want to go, you should go to the Capital University where the emperor once went!"
Li Yu smiled and said: "Okay, okay, okay, okay!"
——
After Zhu Guozhen left, Zhao Qian brought two letters from Shanghai.
The first letter was written by Cai Yuanpei:
"Today I heard that the Office for Study Tours in the United States, which brothers Shucai is involved in, is recruiting students to study in the United States at public expense. I, the outstanding students of Nanyang Public School, are very enthusiastic about it and hope that Shucai will go to Shanghai to discuss the matter at some date."
Cai Yuanpei had already joined the Tongmenghui and did not dare to go to the capital, so he could only write a letter asking Li Yu to leave.
The second letter was from Zhong Guangguang asking to borrow money:
"Brother Shucai, in order to promote education in my hometown of Ningbo, I recently returned to my hometown to build Ludu Public School. However, due to lack of funds, a debt of 3,000 silver dollars has now become due. I hope that brother Shucai can temporarily help with the turnover.
The principal will be returned with interest."
The Ludu Public School founded by Zhong Guanguang became the later Chaiqiao Primary School in Ningbo.
Ningbo and Shanghai face each other across the sea, and the geographical location is quite good. It was one of the first five cities to open ports in that year.
Moreover, the British first looked at Ningbo and the Zhoushan Islands next to Ningbo. The earliest Bund was also in Ningbo.
Zhoushan Island also had a good chance of becoming Hong Kong, but the British considered that the Yongjiang River in Ningbo was too narrow and that it was too far from Singapore, their last supply station in the Far East, so they chose Hong Kong Island.
But Ningbo must have been influenced by a lot of radiation from Shanghai, and in comparison, it is relatively modern now.
Zhong Guanguang had stayed in Shanghai for so long and saw that Shanghai was getting better and better day by day. He had long understood the importance of education and had the idea of returning to his hometown to build a school.
Moreover, Shanghai was well-informed, and Zhong Guanguang was in the import and export business of scientific instruments, so he knew that Li Yu's business in the American factory was very large.
Well, his guess is indeed correct. In a few years, if there is a Forbes list of China's richest people, Li Yu will probably be on the list.
Li Yu was passionate about education, so he replied to his request and mentioned in the letter that he could also be provided with the opportunity to study abroad.