Ding Haoliang brought Li Yu and Fan Xiren to his office, which can be called a small library. The bookshelves on the back wall are all original English books.
Speaking of which, the price of books in ancient times was extremely high, and they were simply not affordable for ordinary people.
For example, Zeng Guofan, as a super diary expert, once recorded all the trivial matters in life in detail. He once wrote about his various daily expenses:
In 1841, Zeng Guofan lived in Beijing. He spent 10,000 Wen on renting a house, which was the monthly rent, and there were 18 rooms in total;
Then I bought two kilograms of fresh meat, which cost 40 Wen;
I bought another set of "The Complete Book of Zhu Xi", and it actually cost 4,000 copies!
There are many other projects listed, such as leather boots costing 1,000 yuan, roast duck costing 500 yuan, and door curtains costing 1,000 yuan. In short, Balabala has written a lot, dozens of projects. At first glance, he looks like a primary school student writing hydrology!
From the first three special ones, we can see that two and a half sets of "The Complete Book of Zhu Xi" can rent a large house with 18 rooms in Beijing for a month!
What a concept!
And later Zeng Guofan bought another set of "The Essence of Zishi", which also cost 4,000 copies!
Although both books are large, one book can buy 200 kilograms of pork! It is easy for ordinary people to choose between the two - to use a popular saying, the pork ribs are not delicious.
?
Even in modern times it is difficult 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 noble son!
The above are only the prices of domestically published books. If they are the original English books on Ding Haoliang's shelf, the prices are even higher.
Of course, today's original English books are not cheap, but compared with those in the late Qing Dynasty, they pale into insignificance.
Ding Weiliang asked Li Yu and Fan Xiren to take their seats directly and introduced himself: "My surname is Ding, my first name is Weiliang, my courtesy name is Guanxi, and my ancestral home is the United States of America."
In view of his status, it is a very high etiquette to introduce oneself. After all, Ding Haoliang is now the third-ranked official in the imperial court.
Li Yu and Fan Xiren quickly stood up and bowed, then introduced themselves again.
Li Yu thought about it at this time, "Guanxi"!
Good guy, Ding Guanxi, that’s interesting!
Ding Haoliang and Li Yu talked about science-related topics again. Li Yu was very good at these aspects. He talked about the double slit experiment to spectral theory, from the formula of universal gravitation to Kepler's three laws, and from complex number space to Euclidean.
Pull identity…
For more than two hours, not to mention the physics teacher Shi Deming, even Ding Haoliang couldn't keep up with the rhythm. He interrupted Li Yu from time to time, and then rummaged through the books on the corresponding theory from the bookshelf behind him to find confirmation.
In fact, Li Yu had already controlled himself. He was talking about the latest scientific research results of the 19th century, and there was no "superclass". When it came to relativity and quantum mechanics, they couldn't accept it, and these two things had not been born yet.
, there are still "two dark clouds" at this moment, which is too shocking to say.
Even so, there are many things that Ding Hailiang has not studied himself, such as the double-slit experiment and Euler's identity. He only knows it and has not studied it at all. Even looking for books on the bookshelf takes a lot of time. Li Yu helped him several times.
Find the corresponding book.
Ding Haoliang was completely impressed: This guy could probably be a professor in a Western university!
However, Ding Haoliang did not have such strong resources to directly recommend him to foreign universities, and he also needed time to further verify Li Yu's level.
He was ready to retain this talent, so he turned around and exchanged a few words with physics teacher Shi Deming in a low voice, and then said to Li Yu: "In view of your excellent scientific literacy, I sincerely invite you to take the admissions examination of the Capital University in a few months.
, of course, this kind of exam will be extremely easy for you."
The first enrollment after the reopening of the Capital University in 1902 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 the Gengzi national crisis was also disrupted.
Almost even the university hall came to an end.
For Li Yu, it was also a big temptation. Thinking about it, he still felt a little hopeful. It felt so strange to be able to return to his original alma mater and be one of the earliest alumni.
But then I thought about it, I don't have an official Qing Dynasty household registration yet, and now he is a "refugee" in the final analysis.
Ding Haoliang 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 and help you get the formal qualification."
This was a great help to Li Yu. When he was really sleepy, he would give him a pillow - something he wished for!
Li Yu had no reason to refuse and bowed: "Thank you, Professor Xi!"
Ding Haoliang thought for a while and then said: "One more thing. Some time ago, Prime Minister Yi Kuang asked me to find a scholar from your country who is proficient in Western learning to be a student assistant in his house. Because of his distinguished status, I have never found a suitable one.
I think you are a very suitable candidate. What do you think?"
Before Li Yu could respond, Fan Xiren next to him was already stunned: "Yi...are you talking about Prince Qing?"
Ding Haoliang nodded: "Yes, he is Prince Qing of your country."
"Oh my God!" Fan Xiren grabbed Li Yu's arm, "Brother, you are going to be prosperous!"
Prince Qing Yikuang is now the absolute real power. A few years ago, he was named the "Tie Hat Prince", and he is hereditary.
In the Qing Dynasty, there were only twelve imperial princes in total. The first eight were founding heroes, and they were basically brothers and descendants of Nurhaci.
Then until the Yongzheng period, he established his thirteenth brother as the iron hat king; as for the last three, they were all from the "Yi" generation in the late Qing Dynasty, that is, the Xianfeng generation, respectively Prince Gong Yi and Prince Chun Yi
Xuan (xuan), and Prince Qing Yikuang.
Prince Gong Yi is the most famous and capable. He is known as Guiziliu. He is the first person to establish and be in charge of the Prime Minister's Affairs Office for the longest time.
Prince Chun Yixuan was mediocre in ability, but he married well and was Cixi's sister. The son he gave birth to was really blessed, and he was directly chosen by Cixi to be the emperor, that is, Guangxu. Not only that, he was also the last emperor of the late Qing Dynasty, Puyi.
His grandson! He is the son of his fifth son Zaifeng.
He is not an emperor, but his son and grandson are both emperors, and he is also a strange person!
But because of this, Yixuan was always afraid for the rest of his life. Like Guangxu, he lived in the shadow of Cixi.
Now that both of them have passed away, Prince Qing Yikuang has become the only living "generation" iron hat king.
Yikuang's abilities are also very average, but if you look at the photos, you will find that Yikuang and his descendants are very handsome. It can be said that they are responsible for the appearance of the Qing Dynasty clan.
Of course, he is not really useless. The most powerful thing about Prince Qing Yikuang is collecting money. He can be called a little expert in "financial management". When he sells his official position, the price is clearly marked, and he is honest! And he has seen it very early.
Taking advantage of the advantages of foreign banks and depositing all the money in foreign banks, it can be said to be very advanced.
Not only books but also cultural items were not cheap in ancient times.