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

Konoe Zhaoxue ran around outside and bought talcum powder.

She was very curious about what Li Yu bought this thing for, because from daily observations, Li Yu is a very clean person who takes a bath often and has pretty good skin, so good that Konoe Zhaoxue once wanted to use his identity as a spy to check him how it is done.

But this is a bit difficult, she must not know that Li Yu is a modern person.

Anyway, after thinking about it for a long time, I couldn't figure out what to do, so I found Li Yu and gave it to him: "This is what you want."

Li Yu took it and said, "Thank you."

Konoe Zhaoxue blinked and said earnestly, "If necessary, I can wipe it for you."

Li Yu said with a smile, "This bottle of talcum powder is not for washing your body."

Konoe Zhaoxue wondered, "What is that for?"

Li Yu said, "Of course it's an experiment."

Konoe Zhaoxue was greatly surprised: "Talval powder? Do an experiment!"

Li Yu laughed and said, "It's very simple. You can finish it in one afternoon and send it to the Royal Society."

Having said that, Konoe Zhaoxue couldn't believe it even more: "You mean, in just one afternoon, you can produce an experiment and an article that the most powerful Royal Society in the world is rushing to publish?"

Li Yu said casually, "That's right."

Jinwei Zhaoxue almost gasped, "You are too scary."

Li Yu weighed the talcum powder in his hand and said, "You only need to use a little bit, and you can keep the rest."

"I'll keep it? How about me..." Before Konoe Zhaoxue had time to ask, Li Yu had already gone to the laboratory.

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The experiment that Li Yu wanted to do was really simple, which was to measure the diameter of molecules by the oil film method, which was a compulsory test in middle school chemistry.

The idea of ​​the test itself is to form a monomolecular oil film on the water surface, and then calculate the molecular size by area.

But it seems very simple, but no one has proposed this idea in the current period of time.

First of all, many people still cannot accept molecular theory and atomic theory, and many people do not believe in the existence of such small microscopic particles.

Until next year, Einstein's first paper was released, which proved the existence of molecules to a certain extent.

Then it was several years before Jean Perrin put an end to doubting the molecular theory through experiments.But that was around 1908.

Two years later, in 1910, the oil film method was proposed for the first time.

Even a middle school student knows the oil film method, but the idea is actually very creative.

The core idea of ​​the experiment of the oil film method is to measure the microscopic data through the macroscopic state, so it is a very advanced experimental thinking.

The experiment process was of course very simple, and Li Yu finished it quickly, and estimated the size of the molecule to be at the 10-10th power meter level.

This is a very small number, and more in line with actual size.Most molecules are at this level, except for some large organic molecules.

Li Yu described the experimental process in detail in the article, which is convenient for other laboratories and universities to repeat, and then handed it over to Konoe Zhaoxue to send it to London, England.

"Is that all right?" Konoe Zhaoxue asked.

"Okay," Li Yu said after a pause, "I almost forgot, I'll return this bottle of talcum powder to you."

Konoe Zhaoxue is full of doubts, the progress is too fast!But it is not easy to ask more about professional matters, so I almost took the letter to the post office.

Li Yu clapped his hands, although he felt a little "I can't handle such a simple thing", but this is the situation now.

Don't think it's just a middle school experiment, so you don't like it.

The development of science and technology in the past 200 years in modern times is like an explosion, which is so fast that it is unimaginable. It is really watching the buildings rise up like a magic trick.

And it is the fastest sliding form method to build buildings. You should have heard about the speed of development in Shenzhen. Many buildings in those days used the sliding form method. Pouring the next layer.too fast!

Later generations of high school chemistry started to talk about atomic structure, which took decades to study and understand in the first half of the [-]th century. Many contents, such as hierarchical orbits and electron spins, have won Nobel Prizes.

High school physics also learns the theory of relativity, which is also the top theory of mankind.

Terrible, really terrible.

Therefore, the oil film method seems very inconspicuous. At the beginning of the [-]th century, it could still be published in top journals such as "Science".

So when Li Yu first time traveled, he suddenly realized that he could create a column in "Science".

It took at least a week for the letter to cross the Atlantic to reach the UK. During this time, Li Yu was busy with the expansion of the radio factory.

Morgan did what he said, and got government approvals in many regions, especially the key nodes such as the central region, the east and west coasts, and Hawaii.

Although it is unlikely to take over the global wireless market in the future, East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Americas are still hard to come by.

Anyway, it is thriving, and the future can be expected.

Tesla came to find Li Yu one day and told him a news that he had just heard: "Marconi specially bought a cruise ship to test the radio."

"The handwriting is not small." Li Yu said while rubbing his chin.

Marconi is a rich second generation, and he is indeed more handsome, and his style has always been more romantic.

His wife's family is also rich, and it is said that they have [-] acres of land in Ireland.

This guy has transformed the cruise ship well. Not only can he do experiments, but he can also hold parties on board to pass the time.

Even in later generations, cruise ships are something that the top richest people like. At the beginning of the [-]th century, there were no private jets like Gulfstream, and cruise ships were almost the most eye-catching products to show off their wealth.

This guy is very dishonest, cruise ships often have beautiful girls from southern Europe.

Later, he and his wife divorced, and the person who remarried seems to have met through a cruise party.

But to be honest, in the early days of radio development, it was really meaningful to use cruise ships to do radio experiments.

Now that the United States is rising rapidly, the situation in Japan and China is also attracting attention, so Europe also intends to strengthen ties with various places.

Li Yu said: "It sounds a bit globalized. It seems that we need to buy one."

Tesla said: "We want to buy too?"

Li Yu said: "The most important thing is that I want to test the radio communication from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou to Japan, San Francisco and New York."

Li Yu then approached Xie Yuxi and brought up the matter.

She was very well informed and immediately said: "I know about the cruise ship of Marconi Company, and he is preparing to publicize it everywhere to prove that his company has the strongest scientific research capabilities and is willing to invest money."

Well, the R&D competition has begun.

Li Yu asked: "Is there any way for us to buy one and convert it into a radio test cruise ship?"

Xie Yuxi thought for a while and said, "There should be some, but for such a large item, I want to ask about it."

The industrial strength of the United States is very powerful now, and Xie Yuxi's family has strong eyes and ears. It didn't take long to find a person who wanted to sell the ship, and the other party had a passenger ship converted into a cruise ship, which was more suitable.

Xie Yuxi gave Li Yu some information: "The other party was a financial tycoon before. Unfortunately, he almost lost his fortune in the stock market crash that just ended last year. In desperation, he had no choice but to sell the cruise ship in his hand."

The last stock market crash in the United States lasted from June 1901 to November 6, which was a very long time.

Many people lost their underwear.

The stock market regulation at this time is like a child's play compared with later.

Not only that, the transmission of news is also extremely slow, and the update speed of the future market is very fast, but at this time, the stock price has to be teletyped, and there is no time to make a decision.

So it's kind of like a gamble.

It is said that in the early Wall Street stock exchanges, there were really bucket shops.

Even Livermore, the famous American stock god in the first half of the twentieth century, lost bankruptcy in the stock market many times.

This kind of thing is commonplace anyway.

Li Yu asked, "Did you earn 3 from the 10 dollars you invested in the stock market last time?"

Xie Yuxi nodded: "Almost."

Last year, she followed Li Yu's advice, tripled the leverage, and invested $3. As Li Yu said, she made a fortune.

Li Yu then asked, "How much is the other party asking for?"

Xie Yuxi said: "The new boat is about 40 US dollars. After the valuation, it can be won for less than 20 US dollars."

Li Yu did some calculations in his mind, and the price was quite reasonable.

Of course, it cannot be compared with a luxury cruise ship. The cost of the Titanic is 150 million pounds, which is 750 million US dollars.

In terms of analogy, we can only compare cruisers with smaller tonnages.

For example, the two British-made unprotected cruisers Chaoyong and Yangwei bought by the Beiyang Navy back then had a displacement of about 1350 tons, and the price of the two ships was 65 taels of silver, or more than 60 US dollars each.

Ordinary cruises certainly cannot be so expensive.

The price of the ship sold by the other party has reached 20, which shows that it is already a very high-end cruise ship, that is, it has ocean-going capabilities.

Li Yu agreed to the expenditure, anyway, the money will be earned back soon.

I really don’t know if I don’t do business. Now Li Yu can better understand why some rich people bought millions of dollars in Da Ben, Rolls-Royce, and Bentley in his previous life.

If you use it properly, even if you spend $20, you can actually earn far more than $20.

Li Yu didn't want to be a purebred professional businessman, but since he wanted to earn some money, he still had to make some investments.

After all, apart from the radio companies themselves, the government is unlikely to invest in any large multinational radio business now.

Even an island country like the United Kingdom only supports radio companies, and its target is Marconi's company.

Fortunately, Laomei doesn't intervene too much in the development of the enterprise now, and there are many things that can be done.

The cruise ship needs to be refitted after buying it, and it will cost nearly ten thousand dollars, so it is not in a hurry to use it anyway.

As the boss, Li Yu still needs to go to Detroit to see the car factory.

In fact, Zou Zhou and David Buick were leading the car, and it was running very well, and the new factory was put into production soon.

Detroit is now very dynamic and efficient.

Li Yu showed David Buick the experimental parameters of the Wright Brothers, and then they designed and manufactured the engine together.

Of course, it is not really to develop any new engine, it is nothing more than a transformation on the basis of an existing engine.So it's not too difficult.

Due to Li Yu's relatively advanced cognition, many designs have a good vision.Even David Buick praised Li Yu as a "terrible genius"!
When it came to the subsequent specific production, Li Yu entrusted David Buick.

At this time, Yang Xiaolou was invited to go on a tour in Chicago, and Mr. Carnegie was also in Chicago recently. Li Yu should go to meet him and tell him about the use of the education fund.

Among the top five richest people in the United States at the moment, Carnegie is living the most nourishing life, playing around all day, so happy.

After Li Yu saw him, he smiled and said, "Mr. Carnegie, you look better than ever!"

Carnegie said: "It is really reasonable to say that no official is light."

Xie Yuxi also smiled and said, "Grandpa, you know a lot of Chinese proverbs now."

Carnegie laughed loudly: "I've been studying!" Then he said to Li Yu: "It's unbelievable. It's been a long time since we saw each other. Now you are not what you used to be. It's good to be young."

Li Yu said, "Mr. Xie, praise!"

Xie Yuxi and Li Yu told him about the recent construction of schools in China, and Carnegie said happily: "It sounds relatively smooth, that's good! By the way, I heard that a prince from the Qing Dynasty took a mission to the St. Louis World Expo. Very sensational."

Li Yu said: "And this time we also brought the Peking Opera Troupe. If you are interested, sir, why don't you go and listen to them. They have already arrived in Chicago."

"Oh?" Carnegie immediately became interested, "What are you waiting for, of course we have to appreciate it!"

Chicago has a high status in the United States. Because it is close to the Great Lakes, the living conditions are good, and retired people like Carnegie like it very much.

After Li Yu and Carnegie came to the theater, they found that some Chinese had already arrived.

Not long after, Li Yu bumped into an acquaintance: Kang Youwei.

After he heard that the theater troupe from the authentic capital was coming to Chicago, he couldn't help but want to come and listen.

Kang Youwei strutted into the theater and met Li Yu face to face.

Eyes met, Kang Youwei blew on his beard and said, "Master Emperor."

Li Yu also cupped his hands and replied, "Mr. Nanhai."

The two had already formed a bond, and their tone was not very good.

Kang Youwei said: "If the emperor doesn't continue to do business, why come here?"

Li Yu said unhappily: "I earn money above and above in my business. I'm not like Mr. Nanhai, who uses his mouth to cheat the hard-earned money of the Chinese people. As for what to do with the money, I'm afraid there is only the way of heaven."

"You!" Kang Youwei was so angry that his beard cocked up, "you young brat, what do you know about the great cause of a family and a country? What I am doing is to reshape the world, and it will be famous forever in the future. What right do you have to treat me? Pointing fingers?"

Li Yu almost laughed, the old guy didn't have any self-knowledge, "Mr. Nanhai, I don't know how you want to reshape the universe, let's hear it."

Kang Youwei was at a loss for words for a while, and then said: "The current situation is that the officials under the old hag oppress the people and make the people miserable. But Emperor Guangxu is diligent in government, loves the people, and is determined to reform. In the future, Emperor Guangxu will rule by himself, and the haze will be swept away. Emperor Guangxu He will also welcome me into the pilgrimage, and at that time, I will naturally fight hard."

Li Yu asked, "Has Mr. Nanhai met the emperor?"

Kang Youwei said: "Of course I have! I used to be the emperor's teacher!"

Li Yu said with a smile: "Then we two are still traveling together. Tell me, what are the emperor's hobbies, what books have he read, and what classes have he taken?"

Where Kang Youwei could answer, he could only argue: "Of course it is the emperor's favorite, the book he should read, and the lesson he should take."

Li Yu has black lines all over his head, and everything he says is nonsense.

Li Yu said: "Do you really think that even if the emperor is in charge, you will be allowed to appear?"

Kang Youwei was full of confidence: "In the whole world, who else is qualified except me?"

Li Yu suppressed a smile and said, "Let's go back to our seats and listen to the play."