Chapter 89

It turned out that inside the Weng residence, Weng Tonghe was discussing literature and philosophy with his disciples. Weng Tonghe had been troubled by the war for several days, and it was only with great difficulty that he found some leisure time. Seeing the snowflakes drifting in the sky, he and his disciples took this as a theme to recite poems and write essays.

At this moment, a subordinate brought in a letter from Lin Yuan. Weng Tonghe unfolded it and saw a few lines of writing on the page. As a master of calligraphy, Weng Tonghe found Lin Yuan's handwriting neither ugly nor beautiful, which made him somewhat displeased.

However, when he read the content, he was greatly surprised and immediately forgot his earlier displeasure. The page read: "Qinyuan Chun, the scenery of the northern country, ... such a beautiful land has made countless heroes bend their waists." It turned out that what Lin Yuan had written was Mao Zedong's "Qinyuan Chun? Snow."

After reading it, Weng Tonghe could not help but clap his hands in admiration and immediately passed it around for the disciples to see. They all praised it. However, Weng Tonghe was puzzled. He was very familiar with the tune "Qinyuan Chun," and there should have been more content. Why was it not written? The snow scenery described in the first few lines was very grand, and he wondered what the remaining content would be. So he called for Lin Yuan to be brought in.

Lin Yuan came in, completed the formalities, and sat down. Weng Tonghe asked first, "I wonder why Mr. Lin did not fill in the remaining lines?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "I am not learned enough to fill them in rashly. I would like to seek guidance from Mr. Weng."

Weng Tonghe stroked his long beard and laughed, "I am old and no longer good at composing poems. You young people should fill them in."

These literati were obsessed with the eight-part essay, and the words they filled in were not very exquisite. Lin Yuan said, "Hearing what the gentlemen have said, I can't help but think of a few lines."

Seeing everyone looking at him, Lin Yuan said, "Pity Cai Shi Yunwen, slightly lacking in literary talent; Dongshan Xie Jin, slightly lacking in charm. A generation of brave generals, Luoyang Qingzhi, unable to defeat the million barbarian troops. All these are past, to count the truly outstanding people, look to today."

Weng Tonghe, upon hearing this, could not help but clap his hands and exclaim, "Good! Good! Good! What a wonderful line, 'to count the truly outstanding people, look to today.'" Everyone also praised the clever filling.

Lin Yuan said, "The three people mentioned in these lines are those I greatly admire. Yu Yunwen defeated the Jin troops at Caishi; Xie Jin defeated Fu Jian at Feishui; Chen Qingzhi led a hundred iron cavalry deep into the enemy's rear for thousands of miles, and even with the full strength of Erzhu Rong, he could not defeat them. They were all people who turned the tide and supported the collapsing structure. Although I am of low status, I am willing to be like them and help the Qing Dynasty recover lost territories."

Weng Tonghe smiled and said, "Young people with great ambitions! Very good!" Then, he frowned and said, "But recovering lost territories is extremely difficult."

Lin Yuan said, "I naturally have a plan. I hope Mr. Weng will speak well of me to the Emperor."

Weng Tonghe smiled and said, "Of course!"

After leaving the Weng residence, Lin Yuan thought, "By impressing these officials with my literary talent, at least Weng Tonghe and the others will say less bad things about me." It was already late, so he went to the Ryukyu embassy.

Although Ryukyu had declared independence, the Qing Dynasty always considered itself the Celestial Empire, and since Ryukyu had been occupied by Japan for a long time, the Qing court did not take it seriously. They allocated a quiet place for the Ryukyu embassy to use.

Lin Yuan met Zhang Hua and Shen Tao, then went to rest. The next day, he went to the Ministry of Rites to perform the necessary rituals, which are not detailed here, as the process could be described in tens of thousands of words. On the third day, Lin Yuan went to meet Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi.

Empress Dowager Cixi claimed to be ill and did not come. Emperor Guangxu received Lin Yuan at the Tiren Pavilion. The etiquette was very complicated, with strict rules for kneeling and speaking. Lin Yuan forgot all the rules as soon as he entered, but to his surprise, Emperor Guangxu smiled and said, "Mr. Lin, no need to be so formal, please sit down."

Emperor Guangxu was born in 1871 and was not yet twenty-four years old, a time when he was young and ambitious. In recent days, the Qing army had suffered consecutive defeats, and Manchuria, the birthplace of the Manchu, had fallen to the enemy, which made him very angry. In this helpless situation, Li Hongzhang recommended Lin Yuan to him, saying that Lin Yuan was proficient in Western learning and was a rare talent, so he treated Lin Yuan with great courtesy.

Emperor Guangxu said, "I heard that Mr. Lin wants to lead troops to recover lost territories. I wonder why you are so confident."

Lin Yuan said, "I have been deeply interested in Western learning for a long time and have a good understanding of Western techniques, so I am very confident in recovering lost territories."

Emperor Guangxu said, "You say you are deeply interested in Western learning. Very well, let me test you." Saying this, he picked up a brush from the table, threw it into the air, and caught it, asking, "Why did this brush fly upward?"

Lin Yuan was taken aback and did not understand what he was asking, so he said, "Didn't you throw it upward?"

Emperor Guangxu's eyes lit up, and he said, "Your point is that force is the reason for the brush's movement?"

Lin Yuan suddenly understood. It turned out that Emperor Guangxu was testing him on Newton's laws. Lin Yuan quickly said, "No, no, no. Force is not the reason for an object's movement. Movement is an inherent property of objects, and force only changes their acceleration."

Emperor Guangxu's expression darkened. He usually enjoyed studying Western learning, and he had spent a long time understanding Newton's laws of motion. He had wanted to show off in front of Lin Yuan, but he did not expect Lin Yuan to understand it even more thoroughly. He did not know that in Lin Yuan's time, any middle school student who had studied physics would know Newton's laws!

Lin Yuan continued, "Actually, Newton's laws only apply under low-speed conditions. If the speed approaches the speed of light, they no longer apply."

At this time, the theory of relativity had not yet been proposed, and Emperor Guangxu naturally had not heard of it. He did not understand and asked, "What?"

Lin Yuan said, "When an object moves very fast, approaching the speed of light..."

Emperor Guangxu asked, "What is the speed of light?"

Lin Yuan answered, "About three times ten to the eighth meters per second, approximately."

Emperor Guangxu said, "I have seen Westerners conduct experiments, saying that light is a particle, while others say it is a wave. What is light, then?"

Lin Yuan said, "Light is both a wave and a particle."

Emperor Guangxu frowned and thought for a moment, saying, "How can it be both a wave and a particle?"

Lin Yuan thought, "If he keeps asking, we'll get into relativity and quantum mechanics, which even many Nobel Prize-winning scientists can't fully understand. But Emperor Guangxu seems determined to ask until he gets to the grand unified theory and the origin of the universe."

The grand unified theory, in simpler terms, is a theory that explains all physical theories. In Lin Yuan's time, its study supported countless scientists, and Lin Yuan could not answer it.

So Lin Yuan said, "Your Majesty, others only talk about theories on paper. I have integrated these theories and developed a special skill! This skill is my trump card to defeat the enemy!"

Lin Yuan said this, and Emperor Guangxu clapped his hands and laughed loudly, "If you can do what you say, I will guarantee to lend you ten thousand elite troops to recover Manchuria!"

(Next episode preview: What exactly does Lin Yuan plan to do? It is so exciting that it makes Emperor Guangxu so enthusiastic.)

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