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

Chapter 142 Female Fox?

This Quanye Expo is full of budgets. Only six provinces of China, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan, Shandong, Sichuan, and Fujian, are participating in the exhibition. However, most of the exhibits are antiques.

There are even tiles from the Han Dynasty and Sutra buildings from the Tang Dynasty in the exhibits in Hubei.

Zhang Jian couldn't stand it anymore: "These things should be placed in museums, why come to Quanye Expo?"

Then I looked at the exhibits of the six provinces, and found that many of them were repeated, so I sighed helplessly.

What Zhang Jian knows best is the exhibits in the Agricultural Pavilion, but he still said with regret: "It's a pity that our salt and cotton in Nantong were not able to participate in the exhibition, otherwise it would not be weaker than other countries."

Of course, other people's agricultural implements are indeed better, so Zhang Jian placed an order for a batch of agricultural implements such as plows and rakes.

After shopping here, the most eye-catching thing is of course the Industrial Pavilion.

The Industrial Pavilion even held a "light show" today, lighting up thousands of lights at the same time in an instant.

It made the audience erupt for a while.

It may not sound like a big deal to people of later generations, but at the beginning of the twentieth century, it was really an incredible industrial achievement.

Zhang Jian was very impressed: "I have never seen so many electric lights in the whole of Nantong. They can be turned on at the same time. How much energy is needed!"

Li Yu was not surprised. Japan was obviously imitating European and American expositions this time, and at the same time lighting up the lights was a study of the Chicago exposition ten years ago.

At that time, Tesla used AC to light up the lights in the entire venue at the same time, directly allowing his own AC to win the "current war" with Edison's DC, and his name will go down in history.

Although it was the brightest, there were no booths for Chinese exhibits in the industrial hall. Fan Xiren and He Yujie had no choice but to pull a small bench and put on the small differential made by Li Yu.

New York held the third auto show last year, but there are not many cars in Japan, and the only ones are imported from Europe and the United States.

Soon someone became interested in this gadget, and a Japanese came over and looked at it: "This is... a differential?"

Fan Xiren knew Japanese, but the Japanese used English when they mentioned "differential".

——Anyway, Japanese is like this. The ability to accept foreign words is weak, and in many cases it can only be adopted.

Fan Xiren didn't understand the professional vocabulary of machinery, so he didn't understand the phrase "Japanese-English", so he had to call Li Yu over.

The Japanese asked again: "Who did this?"

Fan Xiren said: "It's Li Yu who is far away in the sky and close in front of us."

The Japanese asked in surprise, "Li Yu? I've heard about you. When I was in the United States last year, it was mentioned in a lot of news."

Li Yu really never imagined that in an era when communication was so backward, people in the United States and Japan would know him.

The Japanese said: "My name is Shintaro Yoshida. I just bought some parts and components to assemble a car at an American auto show. Today I have nothing to do to visit the Quanye Expo. I really can't imagine that there are Chinese people who can make their own steering system. "

Japan's first ever self-owned car was assembled a few years later by Shintaro Yoshida and his own engineers using auto parts bought in the United States.

But even if it was just assembly, it took Yoshida Shintaro and the engineers four or five years to figure it out.

Japan's automobile industry is too well-known in later generations, so Li Yu naturally understands it, but at this time, Japanese automobiles are really lackluster, as far as the current point of time is concerned.It can even be said that it is not much different from China in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China.It is a pity that no one in the Qing court had any understanding of the importance of the automobile industry.

Li Yu said: "There is nothing particularly difficult, it's just a differential."

What he said is the fact that the car is the crystallization of industry, and the differential is only a small part of it.

Shintaro Yoshida studied it for a long time, and couldn't help but marvel: "It turns out that a small steering system is so complicated! Looking at the whole of Japan, I am afraid that there is no engineer who understands such profound mechanics."

Yoshida Shintaro himself is not good at mechanics, and he relies on buying, buying, buying, and then said: "Can I buy this patent from you?"

"Acquisition?" Li Yu said, "I'm afraid it's not possible, and it hasn't taken shape at all."

Shintaro Yoshida regretted: "That's true, I don't seem to be able to use it after buying it."

Fan Xiren on the side was dumbfounded, "Patent?"

Well, there is no patent system in China now. Even Fan Xiren studied law after studying in Japan, but even he does not know about the patent system at present.

Li Yu had no choice but to explain to him: "It is the imperial court promulgating a decree that can protect inventors from enjoying the exclusive rights of their own inventions for a certain period of time."

Fan Xiren still understands the law, and after thinking about it, he feels right: "There is nothing wrong with it. If you don't do this, how can you encourage big guys to create, or it will become a wedding dress for others."

But then it occurred to me that the Qing government has no relevant laws on patents at all, so there is no protection.There is not even a more fundamental law above patent law.

Zhang Jian knew more or less what patents are, but why the Japanese are going to the Chinese to buy technical patents, it seems like a dream, so he asked, "Are you a member of the Japanese government?"

"No," Yoshida Shintaro knew that China and Japan were currently having conflicts, and quickly said, "I am just an ordinary businessman without any military or government background, but I do plan to set up an automobile factory for Selling cars imported from the United States."

Zhang Jian nodded, it turned out to be a second-hand dealer.

However, the Tokyo Automobile Factory established by this person did, after assembling Japan's first car, and to a certain extent, produced Japan's first "domestic" car.Of course, the core components are still purchased from the United States, and only the car body is produced by itself, using a relatively slow and backward manual method.

The mass production of Japanese cars will not be until Mitsubishi Corporation ten years later.

Mitsubishi again...

The Japanese government quickly noticed the potential of automobiles, especially the huge potential in the military. Many automobile companies later had a strong military background.

Li Yu knew it well.Not only does he not want to sell technology, he has even begun to have competitive thoughts in his heart, although at present he is as small as an ant compared to several major Japanese consortia.

Fan Xiren didn't know what happened later, he just felt that if he could easily make a lot of money by selling patents, why not do it.And this kind of thing can definitely become important news, and it can even boost the morale of the country after it is published in the newspapers.

Fan Xiren said quietly, "Why don't you offer him a big price?"

Just as Li Yu was about to reply, someone came over, "So we also have a booth in the Industrial Hall, and there are Japanese who want to buy it?"

Fan Xiren knew him and saluted him, "Lord Gong!"

Then he introduced to Li Yu: "This is the king of Karaqin County in Mongolia."

They came too.

Fan Xiren also introduced two other people who followed King Gong: Charter, the son of Prince Su Shanqi, and Qi Chengwu, the son of Nayantu, Prince Kalka of Mongolia.

During the Qing Dynasty, there were almost [-] princes in Mongolia.

But Qi Chengwu's surname is a bit powerful: Borzigit, which is the descendant of Genghis Khan.

So one of these three people is already the county king of Mongolia, and the other two are the prince's heirs, and they will inherit the throne in the future.

The people selected by the Japanese Black Dragon Association and Uchida Yasuya, the ambassador to the Qing Dynasty, are indeed very important.

However, by the time the latter two succeeded, the Qing Dynasty was gone... Japan also directly gave up on wooing them and turned to the seemingly more valuable Emperor Puyi of the Qing Dynasty.

Anyway, in the eyes of Japan, there are only interests, and they are interests that can be used by them.

King Gong looked at the differential model car in front of him: "This is the thing, the Japanese want to buy it?"

Charter and Qi Chengwu were also interested. After a closer look, the gear transmission inside can provide different speeds for the left and right wheels when turning. The principle is still very good.

But they couldn't see anything: "So it's such a small thing? I thought it was some incredible industrial product."

"Yes, extremely disappointed!"

Although Shintaro Yoshida didn't understand Chinese, he could tell from his tone that the two of them didn't look down on the little invention in front of them.I just praised myself, and then I was insulted by others. The typical insult is to myself.

Yoshida Shintaro didn't know these princes and sons, so he said directly: "I heard an old saying in China that you can't see Mount Tai with a blind eye, no, no, no, it should be because you don't see Mount Tai with your eyes."

Qi Chengwu and Charter couldn't understand Japanese, so they asked Fan Xiren, "What did he say?"

Of course Fan Xiren understood, but it was a bit awkward to be caught in the middle, and it was inconvenient to translate directly, so he said instead: "He means, this kind of thing is actually very powerful..."

"Oh?" King Gong asked in surprise, "But I look like a toy, even if it's exquisite, it's just something made by a skilled craftsman."

Fan Xiren said angrily, "How can it be that what Brother Li Yu made is just a toy!"

"Li Yu? Be the emperor's teacher?" King Gong had never met Li Yu, but he had heard of his name.

"Of course it is!" Fan Xiren said, "And don't think it's just a model, it will be more useful in the future."

King Gong also ignored the model, cupped his hands and said: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't expect to see you in Japan."

As soon as the name of the emperor's teacher came out, Xian Zhang and Qi Chengwu didn't dare to say anything.

Unexpectedly, teaching Guangxu a class would have this effect.

Li Yu replied: "King Gong is polite!"

Although Guangxu has no real power now, even the Mongolian kings believe that sooner or later they will return to the emperor.

Guangxu has always respected his teachers. When he still had real power, he slowly mentioned his English teacher Zhang Deyi to the second-rank official. ——Zhang Deyi's level is still very mediocre.

Therefore, the status of the emperor's teacher is indeed unreasonable, and they really dare not underestimate Li Yu.

Qi Chengwu and Charter also changed their words immediately: "Since foreigners think it's amazing, it must be amazing!"

Li Yu didn't bother to explain to them, just said: "It's still far away from practical application, but once it is popularized in the future, it will not only boost the economy, but also benefit the people."

Qi Chengwu nodded and said: "Sir, what you said is true, but I think it must first benefit the Queen Mother Lafayette!"

Well, Li Yu really couldn't continue to explain.

Yoshida Shintaro couldn't understand their conversation, but since he couldn't buy a patent, he really wanted to buy a small model.

After all, it's an exhibition, and it's all out, and if someone really buys it, they can't refuse it.

Besides, Yoshida Shintaro has already bought a lot of auto parts from the United States, but the finished product is more complicated. Even if the engineer under his hand can dismantle the genuine American differential, he really can't understand it.

For him, the thing in front of him is small and "delicate", and it looks much more comfortable.

Yoshida Shintaro said: "Sir, please make an offer, I can accept as much as you want."

Li Yu had no choice but to say casually, "That's 100 yen."

"Deal!" Yoshida Shintaro was unambiguous at all.

Now the yen is still relatively valuable, almost equivalent to 10 pounds.

Although the Tokyo Automobile Factory established by Shintaro Yoshida subsequently produced some "assembled cars", the performance and technology were incomparable with products such as Ford in the United States during the same period, and the three key components had to be imported.

Even Yoshida's automobile factory couldn't hold on for a few years and became a part of Isuzu later.

In fact, the Japanese auto industry has been suppressed by the United States and Germany since then. It is thanks to the oil crisis that it can rise in later generations. Everyone suddenly felt pain when they refueled.

King Gong and the others found that the Japanese had really paid for it, so they counted their fingers and said in surprise, "A small model costs 25 taels of silver?"

Qi Chengwu didn't understand either, so he said, "Is this made of gold? It turns out that it's so easy to make money! In the future, we might as well sell models."

Li Yu was full of black lines, and after talking for a long time, they still didn't understand what science and technology were, and what industrial output was.

The cause and effect have not yet been understood.

The things were bought and there was nothing to see, so King Gong called a Japanese over: "Mr. Amano, I also want to know more about education in Japan this time. Do you have any recommendations?"

Amano-kun is the counselor of the Japanese Consulate. He said: "There are many places to watch in education. I don't know where the king wants to see?"

King Gong replied: "Naturally it has its own characteristics."

Amano-kun thought for a while: "The best university in this country is Tokyo Imperial University. In addition, if it is unique, we also have a school specially set up for Chinese students."

"There is a school specially set up for Chinese students in Japan?" King Gong asked incredulously.

"That's right," Amano-kun nodded, "and the dean of the school is a famous lady from the court."

"Still a woman?" King Gong was even more unimaginable.

Amano-kun continued: "Ms. Utako Shimoda, director of academic affairs, is very well-known in our country."

"What kind of fame can you have?" King Gong asked curiously again.

Amano-kun said: "Ms. Utako has an unspeakable secret with the two former prime ministers of our country, Prime Minister Ito and Prime Minister Yamagata."

"Oh?"

This is so hot!

Although none of them had heard of Shimoda Utako, they all knew the names of Ito Hirobumi and Yamagata Yutomo.

King Gong couldn't help asking: "What's the secret?"

Amano-kun said: "Utako is called 'Meiji's female fox', but what is the secret? It can only be understood but cannot be explained!"

The more cultured the Japanese are, the more they like to say a few ancient Chinese sayings or poems.

Moreover, Amano-kun still picked the best title given to Shimoda Utako by the folks, and some people directly called Shimoda Utako "slut", "monster" and "Rasputin of Japan".

King Gong and the others suddenly realized what the "female fox" represented; they were too clear: Daji was called a fox back then.

The interest of several people was completely aroused: "We must go and have a look!"

"No problem!" Amano-kun said, "You will definitely gain something!"

Gong Wang and several people said yes one after another.

But a few people didn't notice, Amano-kun secretly smiled mysteriously.

But Li Yu saw it. The smile was obviously malicious, and he didn't know what tricks he had.

According to the information Tang Shaoyi told him at the beginning, the Japanese will definitely try their best to win over King Gong.Although historically, it was difficult for King Gong to win over directly, but they still have a second plan, Plan B!

King Gong suddenly said to Li Yu: "Sir, do you want to go and have a look together? Since Mrs. Amano-kun mentioned that Ms. Gezi was from the court, and you are the emperor's teacher, I think it is very suitable for you to go, and you can also be strong for us." prestige."

Li Yu was taken aback for a moment, and immediately said, "Yes, I happen to be going to Tokyo too."

King Gong said: "It's so good!"

Amano-kun glanced at Li Yu, but he didn't expect King Gong to agree directly, so he couldn't say anything more.

Li Yu wanted to go not only because of the "hot content" they mentioned.

How to put it, Utako Shimoda was also an early feminist movement in Japan, but the Japanese feminist movement at that time was not much stronger.

There are many reds.

What's more, she is a woman who is pretty online and shows up frequently.

What's more, one year later, there will be a Chinese woman who sells her dowry to pay for her tuition, and goes to Japan alone to study in the girls' school founded by Shimoda Utako. It is the heroine Qiu Jin.

Everyone agreed to leave in two days and go to Yokohama where Shimoda Utako is.

(End of this chapter)