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

Chapter 278 Land Grant
The status of the Xi family at this time is quite similar to that of the Song family and the Kong family in the Republic of China. They are Lao Jiang's money.

Of course, the Xi family also had marriages with the Song family, as well as the Chen Guofu and Chen Lifu families. Anyway, these people are very particular about being well-matched and will try their best to keep their family status.

It's just that in 1929, the third generation head of the Xi family was targeted by the black forces and assassinated... It was a very sensational kidnapping case at that time.

Li Yu even thought of the kidnapping of Li Ka-shing's son in later generations.

The direct line of the Xi family is broken, and the fourth generation is too young to no longer hold the position of comprador of HSBC Bank.

But over 50 years have amassed enormous wealth.

The income of the HSBC comprador is about 5 taels per year, and later reached 10 taels.Coupled with controlling many banks and bank accounts, and making a lot of investment, the Xi family can be called the number one financial family in Shanghai.

After Li Yu entered the living room, Xi Zhengfu, who was already 65 years old, got up and said, "The Emperor and Master are here, and I am sorry to welcome you from afar, cough cough!"

Xi Zhengfu couldn't stop coughing.

It seems that his health is really not very good, Li Yu hurriedly said: "Old man, don't stick to the situation."

Li Yu saw that there was a white man and an official from the Qing court in the living room.

Xi Zhengfu introduced to him: "This person is Maersk Muller from the Kingdom of Denmark in Europe."

"Mr. Muller, hello," Li Yu said, "I went to Denmark just two months ago."

If you know a little bit about shipping, you will know that the top ten shipping companies in later generations will be the Maersk Group.Those who have been to the terminal will definitely see the "MAERSK" logo on many containers, that is Maersk.

It's just that the Maersk Group is still in its infancy.

Maersk Muller said: "Academician Li Yu, I have heard of your name, you are the best scientist in the world today."

Li Yu smiled slightly: "I'm overwhelmed."

Xi Zhengfu introduced another official: "This is Mr. Wei Yungong, the director of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau."

Wei Yungong said: "My lord, I have been admiring you for a long time!"

Li Yu also cupped his hands and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Wei Yungong will be promoted to the head of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau next year, that is, the general office.

He compiled "Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau Records", which is the most important first-hand historical material for later generations to study Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and is also of great significance to the study of the Westernization Movement and the development of modern Chinese military industry.

Li Yu saw that there were many English shipping bills and payment transfer slips on the table.

Xi Zhengfu said with a smile: "It just so happens that the emperor's teacher is here. I have heard that the emperor's teacher is very knowledgeable. Can you solve a problem we are facing right now? We have discussed it all morning and have no idea."

Li Yu said, "But it's okay to talk about it."

At the side, Xi Ligong greeted the servants to bring the best Mingqian Longjing tea. Even if Li Yu didn't understand tea, he knew it was not ordinary when he smelled it.

Xi Zhengfu said to Wei Yungong: "Master Wei, it's better for you to talk."

Wei Yungong then said: "My lord, the thing is like this. Our Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau purchased a batch of high-quality steel, according to the Western metric standard, a total of 5000 tons. When the ship passed through the port of Singapore, there was also a bill of lading that was weighed. "

Wei Yungong took out a form issued by the port of Singapore from the table, and there was a British signature on it as proof.

Wei Yungong knew English. When Liang Qichao founded "Current Affairs News", he once acted as the English translator of the newspaper.

During the Restoration period, Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, sponsored the special economic department. After arriving in the capital, he saw that the situation was unpredictable, so he accepted the "Current Affairs News" entrusted him to inquire about the news of the change in the court situation, and promptly sent a telegram or letter to the Shanghai office. Played the role of "Current Affairs News" ears.

So this person is still relatively new in thinking.

Li Yu said: "There is no problem with the freight bill, please continue."

Wei Yungong went on to say: "But now the steel is transported to Shanghai Port, and after weighing it, there are ten tons more! Mr. Maersk insists on paying the price of 10 tons more."

This kind of high-quality steel is expensive, and the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau obviously wants to use it to make guns and weapons.

The Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau has always been inefficient. If it was someone else, they might not take it too seriously.But Wei Yungong is a more serious person, so much money cannot be thrown away for nothing.

Xi Zhengfu added: "Shanghai Port is unloaded by Taikoo Wharf, which is also owned by the British, so the two freight bills are from the British. We really wonder, could they have made a mistake?"

Li Yu understood it as soon as he heard it. It was nothing more than a problem of the acceleration of gravity. Weight and mass are two concepts, but at this time, not many people really understand it.

So he said: "Mr. Maersk, I think you must think that there are no Chinese people who know what the acceleration of gravity is, and no one knows that the earth is an ellipsoid and that the acceleration of gravity is different in different places?"

Maersk was a little speechless for a while: "I..."

Today's international freight does not have the strict regulations of later generations, and there are many chaos, but Li Yu really can't stand this kind of blatant bullying of Chinese people who don't understand physics.

Xi Zhengfu and Wei Yungong were also confused, what about acceleration and ellipsoid.

Seeing that Maersk was obviously not convinced, Li Yu immediately began to write and draw on paper: "If I remember correctly, the value of the acceleration of gravity in Singapore is about 9.78, and it should be around 9.8 in Shanghai. It seems that there is not much difference, but once the mass is large , there will be a significant difference."

Li Yu drew up an equation at random, and calculated that the difference was exactly 10 tons.

"I think Mr. Maersk should have learned these things when he was in Denmark." Li Yu said.

Nowadays, the education popularization in Denmark is very high.

Seeing that he was exposed, and that Li Yu was well aware of his abilities, Maersk had to give up struggling, but it was inconvenient to admit it directly, so he could only murmur: "Maybe, maybe I forgot. In that case, the price will be based on 5000 tons."

Xi Zhengfu and Wei Yungong were amazed when they saw how easily Li Yu convinced Maersk: "It really is the emperor!"

But Li Yu sighed in his heart. It was only junior high school physics content, but now he can scare so many Chinese people, and said casually: "It's just a little effort."

Xi Zhengfu said again: "The emperor wants to build a school, which is a great thing to benefit the country and the people. Unfortunately, I knew it too late. If the master needs it, I still have a lot of land on hand. It would be good to build some houses."

Li Yu said with a smile: "It's not necessary, the land bought by the foundation is not small."

Xi Zhengfu said: "Master Di Shi bought the land for the school. With the status of Di Shi, he should have a house in Shanghai, right? It happens that I have a piece of land two miles south of Jing'an Temple. I will give it to Di Shi With 400 square meters, you can build a two-storey villa. It is not far from the school, and it will not delay the business of the emperor."

Li Yu is quite familiar with Shanghai, and the places that Xi Zhengfu can talk about at this time are basically the core areas of Shanghai in later generations.

The location he mentioned is just east of Xujiahui.

The name of this road in later generations is Dongping Road, but in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China it was called Jiaer Yeai Road, which was the name of a previous consul general in the French Concession.

In 1943, Shandong Dongping was changed to Dongping Road (in order to distinguish it, it will be called Dongping Road in the future).

Since then, the Xi family built the Xi Family Garden on Dongping Road, which is a top-notch mansion, which has been handed down to later generations.

Dongping Road can be described as the top luxury residential area in the eyes of Shanghainese during the Republic of China. It is lined with trees, the environment is elegant, and the luxury houses are comparable.

The Xijia Garden is on No. 1, and the villa "Ailu" of Chiang Kai-shek and Song Meiling is on No. 9, which was given to them by Song Ziwen as the dowry for Song Meiling's marriage.

Song Ziwen's own villa is on Yueyang Road not far from Dongping Road.

In short, this area was an incredible place in Shanghai during the Republic of China.

Of course, for Li Yu, it was all a funeral.

At this moment, the value of this half-acre of land is about a few hundred taels, which is nothing more than drizzle in the eyes of the Xi family, giving it to Li Yu as a favor.

After all, the concession has not radiated so far. No one would have imagined that the development of Shanghai will continue to advance by leaps and bounds in the future, and there is no intention of stopping at all.

Even without Li Yu's time-traveling vision, the Xi family is [-]% willing to be neighbors with the emperor's teacher, honorary scholar, and world-renowned scientist in the future.

Rich people also like to rely on the cultural circle.

Li Yu declined a few words, but seeing that Xi Zhengfu persisted, he stopped being polite: "Thank you, General Manager Xi!"

Xi Zhengfu laughed loudly: "I just like being called the general manager. What kind of shopkeeper and comprador are so tasteless."

Wei Yungong also said: "The emperor helped the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and I will remember it in my heart."

Li Yu said casually, "It's just a trivial matter, so it's nothing to worry about."

Seeing this, Maersk felt more embarrassed to stay any longer, so he said: "Manager Xi, Mr. Wei, I still have something to do in our company, so I will leave first."

Xi Zhengfu didn't deliberately keep him either.

After Maersk left, Wei Yungong said to Li Yu: "Although the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau can afford the premium of ten tons of steel, we are afraid that foreigners will continue to bully us after knowing our ignorance. This is the most unbearable!"

Li Yu understood Wei Yungong's thoughts. After the failure of the Reform Movement of [-], this person devoted himself to "Westernization" things such as creating bureaus, hoping to strengthen the country.

Li Yu said to him: "After this incident, Mr. Wei should be able to see that the development of industry needs the support of theory, otherwise the products produced will always be one or two generations behind others."

Wei Yungong sighed: "What the emperor said is that the manufacturing bureau can only manufacture the most common rifles today, and the yield rate is still difficult to guarantee. Shangfeng has asked us to provide the same guns as foreigners. I have always had a question, is it necessary? Buy new gun manufacturing technology?"

The guns produced by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau are actually made in Hanyang.

I was deceived when I bought this technology back then. It was not the genuine German Mauser rifle that Zhang Zhidong and the others wanted.

If you buy again, you may be cheated.

Li Yu shook his head and said, "It's not necessary. You can't buy the best technology. But I think you can work harder on management. If you can mass-produce qualified rifles while ensuring quality, that's fine."

Any modern person understands how important innovation is to an enterprise, but at present, these manufacturing bureaus have no research and development capabilities at all, let alone innovation.

Seeing that the British army and the German army have more advanced weapons, the first thing that comes to mind is to buy, buy, buy.

Analogous to later generations of India, military weapons are made by all countries, where can I buy the most advanced ones?India has almost become the biggest victim of international military purchases. It is famous all over the world that it bought an aircraft carrier from Russia for one dollar, but it was cheated for another $30 billion.

At this time, the Qing court was taken advantage of by international arms purchases.

It is difficult to make up for the backwardness in technology in a short time, and there is still a little hope in management, which depends on whether they can be ruthless in fighting corruption.

——Well, it may not be an easy task.

(End of this chapter)