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

Chapter 310 Homecoming

When Li Yu and others returned to New York, Morgan had already handled the listing procedures.

Now there is no bell, and there is no Wall Street Copper Bull. Under the operation of this top Wall Street tycoon, everything is going smoothly.

Li Yu is so happy. In the future, the company's development will inevitably require a lot of capital investment.

All Morgan thinks is to make some money through the stock market, but if the company grows bigger and stronger, Li Yu can naturally earn more.

And having such a professional and authoritative person to operate the listing can save a lot of trouble.

Only the radio business segment of Li Yu LY Company was listed, and the name used was "LY Radio", which is "LY Radio".

According to the previous contract, Li Yu has a fixed 75% voting rights in the board of directors, regardless of whether additional shares will be issued in the future.

Voting rights and shares are two different things. You may hold only 10% of the shares, but you have an absolute majority of voting rights of more than 50%, that is, you can control the company.

A typical example is a certain Dong. Dong Ge holds about 13% of the shares, but the voting rights are as high as 76.1%. He still has the final say.

In fact, as long as it exceeds half, you can already decide on your own.

Influenced by Morgan, initial public offering (IPO) of 100 million shares at $1 each.

Since the New York Stock Exchange has no daily price limit, it quickly jumped to $5 that day.

There are too few radio stocks in the stock market, and Li Yu has won the bid of the US Navy. The market is extremely optimistic about Li Yu's company.

Li Yu currently has 40% of the shares in his hands, which means that it has increased five times in an instant, an increase of 160 million US dollars.

Of course, the money can't be spent casually, it should be used for company construction.

Morgan could see that LY would grow into a big company in the future, so he was in a good mood and called Li Yu to celebrate with him.

As soon as Li Yu and Tesla entered the room, Morgan opened champagne: "Congratulations!"

Li Yu picked up a wine glass from the plate brought by his assistant: "Win-win cooperation!"

Morgan said: "The situation is very good, it will not take long to issue additional shares, and I estimate that the market value will exceed 2000 million US dollars within a few months."

With a market value of more than 2000 million, the current New York Stock Exchange is already at a mid-level level.

Tesla, Fedenson, Zou Zhou, Xie Yuxi and others all hold original shares, and they will definitely make a lot of money by then.

Li Yu's shareholding will naturally be diluted, but it is enough to maintain absolute control and voting rights.

Anyway, it will definitely gain a lot on the whole.

It has to be said that the power of finance is truly terrifying.

It is precisely because of the fear that it is necessary to keep a few more hands. It is really helpful to find Roosevelt Jr. to sign the contract in advance.

Li Yu said: "The market value needs to be maintained by the company's excellent performance."

"You don't have to worry about performance," Morgan said. "According to what I've heard, there are already a large number of shipping companies wanting to order radio facilities. The boats are equipped with advanced radio facilities."

Morgan has previously completed super-large mergers and acquisitions in the railway and steel industries. The market value of the steel trust alone exceeds 10 billion US dollars, making it the first giant in the United States with a market value of more than 10 billion US dollars.

The company controlled by Morgan itself accounts for almost half of the total market value of the New York Stock Exchange!
After that, Morgan prepared to engage in the shipping industry trust. He merged the American Atlantic Lines and the British Leyland Lines to form the International Commercial Shipping Company.

This incident ignited the national self-confidence of the American people.

——Being able to acquire a British company is also a very special thing for the United States at this time.

There are forty or fifty ships under Morgan's hands.

Li Yu said: "It happens that we just got a new factory area, which can increase production capacity."

Morgan said: "Your production capacity needs to be increased! I am planning to build a few more super cruise ships, and they will all be top celebrities. I am afraid that a ship must be equipped with multiple radio equipment."

Morgan's move was to demonstrate the strength of the new company. He did build three luxury cruise ships, one of which was the famous Titanic.

But it is a pity that the Titanic sank unfortunately due to natural disasters and man-made disasters. Morgan's international commercial shipping company went bankrupt two years later.

Railroads and steel industries can improve efficiency through monopoly, but shipping is difficult to do.

Because the sea is not a railway, the degree of freedom is too high, you can go to sea with a ship, and you can't control it at all.

With the full support of the Morgan consortium, the construction of the new factory area is extremely fast.

Coupled with the consortium's vigorous publicity in Pulitzer's "Le Monde", orders quickly exploded.

Tesla and Fedenson don't have time to do any research for the time being, so they will do their best to ensure production first.

Fortunately, with the supply from General Electric and Westinghouse Electric, the production process can be greatly reduced.

-

Not only are there frequent reports of success in the radio business, but Li Yu's stainless steel patents are also selling well.

Many other small steel mills in the United States knew that they could not compete with Morgan, so they opened up stainless steel production lines one after another.

Li Yu still adopted the method of patent authorization fee, which was priced according to the tonnage of the factory.

It is conservatively estimated that the patent fee will exceed 20 US dollars in the first year, and will increase steadily thereafter.

Including Europe, I am afraid that the annual patent fee for stainless steel will exceed 50 US dollars.

But Li Yu was not going to just lie down and make money. He bought an average-sized steel factory in Pittsburgh by the way, and let the Scottish guy Drummond be in charge of production.

The purpose, of course, is to attract more Chinese workers.

Because this kind of industry requires much less knowledge, it can recruit many ordinary Chinese workers.

Situ Meitang is very concerned about this matter, because he does not know too professional radio or electronic ignition system, but the steel industry is too easy.

Few of his Hongmen people have been able to enter Li Yu's industrial chain, and now they can finally benefit his own people.

-

Li Yu has been very busy recently.

And Lu Bicheng was not idle, and many newspapers reported on her, not only in Europe, but the United States is also very interested in female authors.

An American female writer approached her.

"Boom boom boom!"

There was a knock on the door of the suite given to Li Yu at the Waldorf Astoria New York, and it was Konoe Zhaoxue who opened the door, and she asked, "Who are you?"

The woman at the door replied: "My name is Kate Chopin, and I am looking for an oriental writer named Bicheng."

Lu Bicheng stepped out: "Looking for me?"

"Yes, I'm a writer too," Kate said.

Lu Bicheng hurriedly said, "Please come in."

Several people made an introduction. Kate was very interested in the Orientals, so she first looked at the two people's shapes, "The Orientals are different from the previous pictures, and they are so beautiful."

Then he put down a few books on the table and said, "I didn't like reading science fiction works, but after knowing that there are female authors, I couldn't help but read them again."

There are not many female readers in the field of science fiction in later generations, let alone the early twentieth century.

Lu Bicheng said: "Actually, I can only be regarded as a supporter."

Kate said: "Oriental people are really humble. Take a look, this is "Awakening" written by me."

Kate was an early American feminist writer, but this book is really too wild for the moment, and it's about a woman having an extramarital affair.

Although she wants to express that it is a woman's pursuit of freedom and desire, the form and content are really too out of the ordinary, which makes it unacceptable for the times.

It is said that the feminist movement at this time is in its infancy, or a single spark.

Of course, some extremists in later generations developed into "female boxing" is another matter, and it did cause some negative problems.

There are many "boxers" even in China, but they are still far behind Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States.

Anyway, before Li Yu crossed over, in general, most of the domestic boxers were counted as version 1.0; Japan and South Korea were counted as 2.0 and 3.0, and Europe and the United States had already reached version 4.0, which is really jaw-dropping.

As the old saying goes, too much is too much, and things must be reversed when they are extreme.

However, this situation is always within the controllable range, and it may pass after a few years. There is no need to worry about individual extremes.

The normal law of developments, at least in the early twentieth century, the status of women was really worrying.

Lu Bicheng roughly flipped through the "Awakening" in front of him, blushing and heart beating when he read it, because the heroine in the book is too bold.

She has two children, her husband is very kind to her, the family is also very rich, and they live in a villa.But because her husband is busy and has no time to accompany her, the heroine begins to seek more emotional expressions...that is, extramarital affairs.

A little bit of that.

Not only Lu Bicheng thinks so, but the current critics also look down on this kind of behavior of abandoning his wife and children.

Lu Bicheng said awkwardly: "I, I don't know much about the American way of life."

"Women all over the world are the same," Kate said.

Lu Bicheng is a cosmopolitan, and agrees with this sentence: "But the behavior in the book happened in China, it will..."

It was Konoe Zhaoxue who said directly: "This will hit the board!"

Kate opened her mouth: "It's not fair."

Jinwei Zhaoxue said again: "Men and women have to be boarded."

Kate frowned: "That's too harsh. Don't you think women should pursue their true emotions?"

Lu Bicheng said: "Of course you should pursue, but I think if you are already married, at least you shouldn't betray."

Kate said: "What if it's an unwanted marriage?"

"I, I don't know, because I won't accept it. But once I accept it, I won't regret it." Lu Bicheng said.

"What do you think?" Kate asked Konoe Zhaoyuki again.

Konoe Zhaoxue immediately replied, "Me too."

Kate sighed: "It seems that you still need to learn, this book is for you."

Lu Bicheng took the book: "I will read it carefully."

Kate said: "It really needs to be read carefully, because I have spent a lot of space describing the mental journey, maybe you will be able to understand it when the time comes."

Lu Bicheng and Jinwei Zhaoxue looked at each other, they could only look at each other before talking.

-

This time I stayed in the United States for a long time, because it involved a lot of industrial matters.

Li Yu was not relieved until the factory was on the right track and two batches of products had been rolled off the assembly line.

Fortunately, in the United States, Zou Zhou, Situ Meitang, Tesla, and Fedenson can stand up.

It's just that Li Yu took away more than 30 people at once, and the rest had to be busy before the new employees entered.

After two batches of radio equipment were sold to major shipping companies, there were still eight sets left, which Li Yu happened to bring back to China.

It's time to go back to China, because the Chinese New Year is approaching.

Situ Meitang saw him off in person, and Li Yu gave him a set of radio equipment to facilitate future contact.

Situ Meitang said: "I don't need to talk too much. The ancients said, Mo Chou has no confidant in the future, and no one in the world knows the king. It is suitable for you."

Li Yu smiled and said, "I will come back."

There was a huge crowd returning home, and Li Yu bought a boat ticket for them.

At least it is second class, although it is cheaper than returning to Shanghai from Europe, it is as high as 30 US dollars a ticket.

The first-class fare for Li Yu and the others was $75.

First and second class cabins belong to the upper class.

And the lowest third-class cabin, that is, the bottom cabin, is $5.This floor is much cheaper, and the conditions are much worse, because the bottom of the cabin is usually a cargo hold at the same time, and it is close to the power unit, which is very noisy.

But $5 is still not a low amount for ordinary people.

As the Chinese New Year is approaching, many people still have to go back to China after traveling thousands of miles under the custom of resettlement and relocation in China.

Of course, there are also some Japanese.

Most of the more than 30 Chinese workers brought back by Li Yu are second- or third-generation Chinese. They have never been on an ocean-going ferry, and they feel very happy to be able to return to China.

The country is broken by mountains and rivers.

Besides, they knew that following Li Yu would not hurt them.

The ship will still dock in Tokyo, Japan, and then sail to Tianjin Tanggu Port, Shanghai Port and Guangzhou Port in turn.

This morning, Li Yu had breakfast with Lu Bicheng and others in the restaurant.

Since it is a ship of the American Steamship Company, it still provides Western food, and what is served is milk, bread and fried eggs.

Fortunately, Chinese people don't pay too much attention to breakfast, and they can eat anything.

While eating, suddenly a young man broke into the restaurant and shouted, "Excuse me, can someone help me?"

His clothes were shabby, and he looked like he had come up from the lower cabin.

Several security guards rushed out quickly and stopped him: "Don't you understand the rules? People in the lower cabins are not allowed to enter the upper deck!"

The young man said helplessly, "My sister is sick, she is in pain, is there a doctor?"

The security didn't care what he said, and dragged him out.

Li Yu said to Lu Bicheng: "I heard the accent is Chinese, we must have bought a lot of medicine when we boarded the ship?"

Lu Bicheng nodded: "It's all in the medicine box."

Li Yu took a quick bite: "Let's go, let's see if we can help."

Li Yu and Lu Bicheng followed the security guards to the deck.

The security guard threw the young man into the passage, and then said: "Let us see you enter the upper cabin next time, be careful that we will throw you into the sea!"

After the security guard left, Li Yu opened the passage, walked down a few steps, and saw the young man at the corner.

The young man thought he was being chased away, so he hurried down, but Li Yu called to him: "Wait, we want to help you."

The young man stopped in his tracks: "Are you doctors?"

Li Yu picked up the medicine box: "No, but we have medicines."

The young man said happily: "Great, I know there are good people!"

The cabins on the bottom floor are indeed cramped. Unlike the first-class cabins and second-class cabins, which are basically independent private rooms, the bottom floor is completely occupied by Datong bunks, but it is distinguished according to the compartment structure at the bottom of the hull.

There are many bunk beds densely packed, among which there are only passages through which people can pass. It can be said that most of the people on board are on the bottom floor.

But when they came to the patient, they were completely dumbfounded: it turned out to be a pregnant woman!However, it is not about labor, but the third trimester of pregnancy for at least seven months.

The pregnant woman was in pain, screaming, and her head was covered with sweat.

Li Yu was stunned for a while, then asked Lu Bicheng beside him, "Do you know about obstetrics and gynecology?"

Lu Bicheng said awkwardly: "How could I understand!"

Li Yu rummaged through the medicine cabinet, and only aspirin, which can relieve pain, seemed to be useful, but pregnant women were obviously very particular about medication, so he didn't dare to give it to her rashly.

Just when he was at a loss, a middle-aged man walked into the cabin: "Let me come, I am a doctor."

(End of this chapter)