A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 108 Silver Note
It took a lot of days for the review of the big guys, but it is already very fast. It is not uncommon for some peer reviews to take several months.

The main reason is that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is famous enough, and everyone sees it as a priority in terms of face.

Stockholm, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

After seeing the evaluation opinions of the three mathematicians, and the evaluation opinions were highly praised, the Royal Mathematics Advisor Leffler of course had nothing to say, and directly met King Oscar II and submitted the three people's reply.

Oscar II did not expect that mathematicians' peer reviewers would give such a high evaluation, especially the praise from Hilbert, a leading figure in mathematics.

This time it seems that the bet is right!
"Very good," said Oscar II. "What we need in Sweden is such a high-quality mathematics paper! Be sure to suppress the momentum of the German and British mathematics circles."

Leeffler said: "Your Majesty, I think the thesis can be published in advance and distributed everywhere to create a good reputation. When you award the medal to Li Yu, it will definitely boost the reputation of our Swedish mathematics in Europe."

"Let's do it!" Oscar II thought deeply, "I announce in the name of the kings of Sweden and Norway that this time the highest royal medal in mathematics is awarded to Li Yu from the distant Qing Dynasty!"

"Of order!" Leeffler said, "One more thing, Your Majesty, we can name this mathematics award after you like the Nobel Prize, how about calling it the Oscar II Gold Medal of Mathematics?"

Leeffler fully grasped the king's mind.

Oscar II nodded vigorously: "Just use the name you said! You immediately send a telegram in my name, inviting Li Yu to my Swedish palace, and I will personally confer this highest honor on him!"

When Sweden was reviewing the article, Li Yu had nothing to do and was sorting out the banknotes in his hand.

He now mainly has the 1500 taels given to him when he was teaching in Beiyang, and then the 2000 taels rewarded by the imperial court when he returned from the European special mission and the 1000 taels of silver notes given to him by Yu Geng.

These moneys are banknotes of Beijing Henghe Bank, and of course only Henghe Bank recognizes them.

But the trouble is that all they give are big tickets, with a face value of 200 taels.

You can't go eat a noodle and put out a big ticket of several hundred taels!
If Li Yu really wanted to do this, the noodle restaurant might not think that Li Yu was here to eat noodles, but to buy noodle restaurants!
So Li Yu decided to change some small tickets and loose silver, otherwise life would be too inconvenient.

Of course, he was not in a hurry to exchange all the money from the bank and deposit it in the bank, because the reputation of Siheng was still very good.

Two years ago, the Eight-Power Allied Forces ransacked all the major banks in Beijing, and the four major banks alone robbed them for three days.

However, after the incident, the four majors resolutely "digged the kang to dig for silver" (digged out the "silver" stored in the kang hole of the residence) to meet emergency needs.

They rented a store to exchange the bank notes of the four constants.Although some of their own ticket stubs do not exist, they still use the notes in the hands of customers as evidence to pay all the deposits, exchange bank notes, and repay debts.

Four Hengjing was seriously injured by this incident, and until ten years later when it couldn't hold on to the bankruptcy, it still insisted on fulfilling its solemn promise at the beginning: guaranteeing that silver (money) can be transferred at any time and under any circumstances. Tickets are converted into cash and cash.

Li Yu called Zhao Qian: "Let's go to the East Fourth Pailou!"

Dongsi Pailou is the financial street in Beijing in this era. It is located on Chaoyangmen Inner Street, and three miles to the east is Chaoyangmen.

Chaoyangmen is the channel for grain from the south to enter Beijing. There are many official warehouses and warehouses nearby, and the bank's ticket office industry is very prosperous.

Dongsi Pailou and Dongchang Hutong are very close, less than two miles away.

The clerk at the counter saw the five 100 tael banknotes that Li Yu brought up, and said, "Guest officer, what you have is still an official ticket, do you want to withdraw cash?"

Li Yu said: "Give me a small bank note of ten taels, and give me another 100 taels of silver."

"Okay, sir, you wait."

In order to prevent counterfeiting, the banknotes are still very complicated. All kinds of codes, patterns, and handwriting of the shopkeeper are known only to the bank itself, and there are watermarks.

If it is a large-value bank note, there is not even an amount on it, only some code words.

While Li Yu was waiting, he saw Baron and Lin Binghua reappearing from a distance. They seemed to have negotiated the interest rate with HSBC and were about to withdraw their money and deposit it in HSBC.

Li Yu said to the teller, "I'll go out for a while, and I'll come back later to get the money."

Then he called Zhao Qian over: "Let's go home!"

After knowing Baron's intentions, the bank was indeed quite embarrassed. Although Baron only deposited 80 taels in their store, the amount was still too large, and it would be a big run on them to take it out all at once.

When Li Yu came back again, the shopkeeper of the bank was negotiating with them: "My lord, 80 taels is not a small amount. If you really want to take it, I'm afraid we will have to give the bank a few days to prepare."

Lin Binghua also added: "Don't forget I still have my 2 taels."

The treasurer of the bank quickly said politely: "Okay, okay, just bring the bank note, and we will definitely deliver it in full."

It seems that I can't get the money today, and Baron was getting up to leave. Li Yu immediately stepped forward and pretended to be surprised: "Good guy, 80 taels. I don't believe that someone has so much money. Didn't they say it to scare people?"

Lin Binghua sneered and said, "Don't be greedy, you poor scholar."

Li Yu said in a tone that had never seen the market: "Then you make me greedy."

Baron was angry with him, who told him to mess around with the wires in front of his house, held out the banknote and said, "You can watch it!"

"I really have to see clearly."

Li Yu took over the bank note, which indeed contained code words. The pattern around the bank note was very complicated, and there were even many small characters in the pattern.

Li Yu only glanced at it and handed it back, "You must keep it well!"

The bank note in Lin Binghua's hand was also a code word type. Li Yu also only took it and glanced at it, and said in shock: "If it weren't for the two masters looking at me, I would never see so much money in my life."

Lin Binghua sneered and said, "I don't think you will be able to see him again."

After the two left, Li Yu immediately picked up the tea on the table, poured it on his hands and washed it, and then sneered, "I'm afraid you won't see each other again."

The shopkeeper of the bank is very big-headed. He barely survived the difficulties after the war, and now he has to accept the impact of foreign banks. I am afraid that he will lose his family fortune.

Li Yu took his banknote and said to the shopkeeper, "I wish the shopkeeper a lot of money."

The shopkeeper squeezed out a wry smile: "I hope so."

The impact of banks on banks can be said to be fatal, basically the gap between hot weapons and cold weapons.

Although purely from the economic point of view, modern banks are basically in a state of "insolvent and on the verge of bankruptcy".There is no need to wait for a financial turmoil or crisis. Under normal circumstances, as long as most depositors withdraw money at the same time, the bank will collapse immediately.This is the nightmare of all bankers - "run".

The money bank bank does not dare to play like this.They must ensure positive cash flow, because the bank assumes unlimited liability.Although they are also afraid of a run, their deposits are much larger.

The biggest difference between the two is not here, in a nutshell: Qianzhuang is a competitive participant in the free economic market.But the modern bank is not, it is a special monopoly industry, behind the bank is the state.

It is precisely because of the full protection from the state that banks can have a much larger capital scale, a much wider business scope, a much stronger ability to bear risks, and naturally much more profits.

Therefore, the bank is completely reducing the dimensionality of the Qianzhuang bank.

Otherwise, there are so many centuries-old brands in Beijing, such as Quanjude and Tongrentang, but why can't we see a bank.

Lin Binghua carefully took out the banknotes at home at night, and was about to examine them by candlelight, but for some unknown reason, the banknotes in front of him suddenly sparked, and then quickly burned, and the whole banknotes caught fire. He quickly threw it on the ground.

Lin Binghua's eyes were dumbfounded, what happened just now?
When I tried to pick it up from the ground, the banknotes had already turned into a pile of ashes.

This, this, this?
Where is the bank note, where is the big bank note I just had?

The next day, Baron came to Lin Binghua in a panic, "Oh no, I really saw a ghost!"

Lin Binghua didn't close his eyes all night, and when he saw Baron, he said weakly, "Master."

Baron said fiercely: "My bank note caught fire for no reason!"

Lin Binghua wailed: "Mine too, it's gone, it's all gone!"

According to the industry regulations, bank notes cannot be reported as lost after five days, and if they are gone, they are completely gone.

Otherwise, what if someone pretends to lose it, reports the loss of the bank note and then withdraws the money, and then takes the bank note to the semi-colon to withdraw the money.

In an instant, more than 80 taels were wiped out, and the two sat on the ground so sad that they couldn't even cry.

It's okay for Baron, his father is Rong Lu, the most powerful official in the dynasty, and the family has more than this little money.

But Lin Binghua is miserable, 2 taels is almost all of his current net worth.I just spent a lot of money to donate an official position, if I don't have money to continue to manage in the future, I will be squeezed out by other people soon.

Sitting at home, Li Yu knew it all the time, especially when Baron rushed out in the Ronglu mansion next door, howling and crying, he was even more delighted.

Of course everything is his hand and foot.

Hehe, don't you look down on science, let you have a little taste of the power of science.

At that time, Li Yu actually went home to get a bottle of carbon disulfide solution in which white phosphorus was dissolved, and then secretly wiped it on when the bank took over the banknotes of the two of them.

Carbon disulfide will slowly volatilize, leaving only white phosphorus, which will spontaneously ignite as long as it exceeds [-] to [-] degrees Celsius.Even if the weather is cold and the temperature is not enough, with the oxidation reaction with oxygen in the air, white phosphorus will gradually accumulate heat and then burn.

Everything happened without anyone noticing, and Baron and Lin Binghua would never have thought of it.

After all, they don't even know what phosphorus is.

Although Li Yu's approach was a bit old-fashioned, it's not a big deal to punish him "a little bit".

　Make up for yesterday's.

　　In the past few days, there has been an epidemic again, and then I was pulled to be a volunteer again. Although there is nothing wrong, it depends on time...

　　I'm so sorry~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)