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

Li Yu decided to write some articles in response to the "Daily Mail" report, explaining that the situation was urgent at the time, and it was for the purpose of rescue, and there were no side stories like those imagined in the tabloids.

Although some people believed Li Yu's words, it was obviously not as widely spread as what was written by a professional reporter from the "Daily Mail" before. Who calls him a professional journalist.

Konoe Zhaoxue was happier after seeing Li Yu's statement: as long as nothing really happened.

She specifically found Li Yu and showed him the telegrams from Germany and Italy.

The Holy See in Italy urged Li Yu to come to the Holy See as soon as possible after the meeting with Planck. As Li Yu’s reputation continued to accumulate, the Holy See is now determined to recruit Li Yu as an academician of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Planck's letter was about the same content, and he was urged by the Holy See more often.

After reading the two telegrams, Li Yu said, "It seems we can't stay in the UK forever, we need to go to the European continent quickly."

Konoe Akiyuki also looked forward to this opportunity to meet the world, especially when she knew that she was going to St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, she was even more excited. Although she didn't have much faith, thanks to the efforts of missionaries for hundreds of years, the Pope's reputation has spread all over East Asia. It's still very big, just think about the later Saint Seiya.

Konoe Zhaoxue received the telegram and asked about the story of Journey to the West: "I can tell that the reason why they are full of tragedies is that they happened to meet the wrong person because of the difference of 500 years. It seems that everything is right. It's not the right time."

"Your brain is quite fast." Li Yu said.Many people who watched movies in later generations didn’t see it. They just wondered why in the first movie they fell in love with Bai Jingjing to death, and in the second movie they became Fairy Zixia. In fact, there are several times in the original movie. It's not particularly obvious.

Li Yu asked again: "Did you hear it from Miss Bicheng?"

Konoe Zhaoyuki said, "Yes, we didn't expect you to be so good at telling stories."

Li Yu said with a smile: "I still know a lot about this kind of story, and I will tell you when I have a chance."

Konoe Zhaoyuki thought for a while, and then asked: "I remember you said before that in a few years, you will find the formula to freeze time. Is it really possible to do it at that time?"

Li Yu spread his hands: "In fact, according to the Lorentz transformation, after considering time as a dimension, to a certain extent, it is possible to go to the future."

Konoe Zhaoxue was a little confused when he heard it, and felt that it was a bit profound, so he just wrote it down silently in his heart.

She still thinks a lot, such as whether she can use this to achieve a military or political first-mover advantage, but the theories involved are too profound, and she has no clue for a while.

-

Xie Yuxi and Tesla also rushed over from the United States recently, and their goal was to represent Li Yu's LY company to see if they could develop a radio business in Europe.

But as soon as the two got off the ship with the equipment, they were stopped by British customs.

"Routine inspection!"

Tesla pointed to his big suitcase and said: "There are radio equipment inside, you must be careful when you look at it."

However, these customs officers do not seem to know much about the latest equipment, because they are much smaller than the radio equipment models seen in the past.

The customs officer was full of suspicion. Looking at the wires, batteries and the black box in the box, he couldn't make up his mind, and finally said: "We will send it to a special agency for testing."

Tesla immediately said: "No!"

The customs officer asked, "Why not?"

Tesla said: "Because there is no more professional organization in the UK that understands this latest radio equipment."

The customs officer became angry when he heard it: "You are from the United States, right? When did the nouveau riche become so arrogant in the field of technology? Do you know what London is? This is the most scientific place in the world! Even our If you don’t understand it, it can only show that it is a dangerous item, maybe it is a terrorist weapon.”

Tesla suddenly had a black line, but they really couldn't refute it when they said so.

Because there was indeed a terrorist attack a few years ago, French President Sadi Carnot was assassinated, and even Queen Victoria was assassinated.

These two incidents shocked all walks of life at the time, and many people still have lingering fears now.

Tesla said anxiously: "Who knows how long it will take for you to review, they still have important uses for us."

The customs officer snorted coldly: "Unless you want to offend the laws of the British Empire."

Xie Yuxi knew that they couldn't let them take the things away, so she stood up and said, "If it's for safety reasons, we can disassemble them on the spot."

Tesla understood, and quickly started dismantling, and soon a wireless telegraph was disassembled into a lot of parts.

Tesla showed them one by one, and the customs officers saw that there were no explosives, so they had to let them go.

It took Xie Yuxi and Tesla a long time to leave the customs building with a box of parts.

-

When they arrived at the Royal Society, Li Yu was with Lord Kelvin. Lord Kelvin had heard about Tesla, "I hope your experiment on Long Island, New York, can be seen across the Atlantic Ocean."

Tesla respected the old man: "My lord, wireless power transmission must be the next great invention, and I think its status will surpass that of radio."

Lord Kelvin said: "It seems you are not too upset about losing your radio invention patent?"

Tesla said frankly: "It is impossible to have no opinions at all, but it is already a thing of the past. Since I have a more ambitious goal, my heart has calmed down a lot."

Lord Kelvin smiled and said, "I hope to see it in my lifetime."

He looked at Xie Yuxi again: "Young people are good, there are so many young and good-looking girls around."

Xie Yuxi said: "My lord, I am a director of Li Yu's company, and I am from the Carnegie family."

Lord Kelvin was stunned: "It's no wonder Li Yu was able to start a company in the United States smoothly, not only with Morgan as a shareholder, but also with Carnegie standing behind him. But if you want to start your business in the UK or Europe, I'm afraid you will encounter some resistance."

Li Yu asked, "What resistance are you referring to?"

Lord Kelvin said: "Now European countries, especially the United Kingdom and Italy, are almost covered by Marconi's products. Even though I know your products are more advanced, countries have already invested hundreds of thousands of pounds or more. At this time It’s really hard to go back.”

Marconi's company also used some of Li Yu's patented technologies by paying patent royalties. Of course, the price was high, and the latest achievements could not be obtained.As a result, their products not only have a generation gap with Li Yu, but also have no advantage in price.

But the situation in Europe at this time is not the same as in the United States.

The kings of European countries now like to play "political balance", like walking a tightrope, using science and technology as a balancing tool.

So they must support their own people.

In radio, for example, Britain and Italy bet on Marconi; Germany bet on Braun.

Although Marconi is Italian, he has been in the UK for a long time, and he is almost half-British.

At this time, Britain has invested a very large amount of money in Marconi's company.

Li Yu said: "I understand the long-standing truth, but we hope that our capabilities in ocean communications will attract attention."

Lord Kelvin took a puff of his cigar and said, "If you want to find a breakthrough, you must go to the British Post Office to find Dr. Price, the chief engineer. He is currently an authority in the British telecommunications industry."

Li Yu said: "You said that since the British government has invested a lot of money in Marconi, is there any hope for us?"

Lord Kelvin said: "Go and try, I have some thin noodles at the General Post Office."

There is nothing wrong with Lord Kelvin saying this, and almost all the departments related to science and technology in the UK are giving him face.

A group of people came to the post office building, and it happened that the chief engineer of the British Post Office, Price, was calling the representatives of the Far East Telegraph Company and the Anglo-American Telegraph Company to hold a meeting.

Lord Kelvin has more say on such occasions, because his title of knighthood was granted because of his meritorious service in laying the Atlantic submarine cable.

At that time Kelvin was a director and engineering consultant for Atlantic Submarine Cables.

The two companies meeting here are in the wired telegraph business, and the emergence of wireless telegraphy has posed a considerable threat to them.

Pulis had a headache at this time. For them, the cable company and the wireless telegraph company were all hands and backs.

Now the cable company can't understand the wireless telegraph company. If malicious competition is caused, it will be really difficult for them. After all, they have spent a lot of money to enter.

When he saw Lord Kelvin coming, he seemed to see a savior, and immediately invited him to the venue: "It's so lucky, Mr. Lord can come to the venue in person! You are a hero of the cable company, and it's better to negotiate with them."

It has been nearly 50 years since Lord Kelvin worked in the cable company. He didn't know these juniors. Before the representatives of the two companies complained, he first said: "I know what you want to say, but the progress of the times is like this. .If we stagnate, we will be overtaken by others sooner or later, and we will no longer be an empire on which the sun never sets. I think you don’t need to say more, you will understand how many wrong things we have done in the world by virtue of the advantages of the empire in the past. Undercurrents are surging, if If we lose our current status, do you still expect others to be pitiful?"

When Lord Kelvin came up, he was reprimanded. The representatives of the two companies looked at each other in blank dismay, unable to speak a word of the organized language.

Kelvin pulled Li Yu over again, and continued: "Just after half a century of high profits you made on that cable, this young man, Li Yu, and another Mr. Marconi, who was also young, were already walking It has opened up the frontier of communication. If you don’t use radio, how do you make the land communicate with the ship? Do you want the ship to drag thousands of kilometers of telegraph wires?”

Representatives of the two companies said: "My lord, don't you think this kind of invisible and intangible thing sounds unreliable?"

Lord Kelvin said: "You don't know how to learn, no wonder you fall behind. I also doubted the radio at that time. I remember seven or eight years ago, I said that I believed in a child and a horse more than the radio. At that time, I even I think wireless telegraphy is not as reliable as a child riding a horse to send a letter. But I, an old man, can correct my beliefs, why are you still so stubborn?"

The representative of the cable company said helplessly: "We can't just sit and wait for death, can we?"

Li Yu coughed lightly, and then said: "In fact, you don't have to be so pessimistic. Although the establishment of a commercial radio system is about to become a reality, submarine cables will still be an important tool for long-distance telegraphy for a long time."

Hearing what Li Yu said, the representatives were a little relieved: "Mr. Academician, we know that you are knowledgeable and talented, but we still cannot completely dispel our concerns."

The cable company has slandered the wireless telegraph many times in recent years. Just like the current war between direct current and alternating current, Edison's company also discredited alternating current.

Li Yu knew that he had to let them know that he was indispensable, so he said: "Submarine cables have obvious advantages, because radio cannot compete with submarine cables in terms of confidentiality and reliability, so it cannot completely replace submarine cables."

This remark made Price, the chief engineer of the British Post Office, very helpful. "Since Mr. Academician is so sure, I don't think you need to worry about losing the market completely."

Li Yu added his strength: "Don't worry, everyone, even in the past 100 years, submarine cables will still be alive. Just like the emergence of submarine cables back then, it didn't make paper letters disappear."

As a time traveler, Li Yu certainly knew these things.They don't have to worry too much at all, just like Kodak or Nokia in the later generations, although they are no longer the industry leaders that used to be unparalleled, they still survive in some other fields.

The representatives of the two companies finally felt relieved and prepared to take Li Yu's words back to the company to continue the discussion. At least they could survive by reducing the size of the company.

Pulis breathed a sigh of relief, and thanked Li Yu and Lord Kelvin: "It's fortunate that you are here, otherwise they would all want to secretly find someone to destroy the radio tower. This kind of conflict reconciliation is even more difficult than being a diplomat. "

Li Yu took advantage of the situation and put forward his own request: "Chief Engineer of Price, you must have heard about the advantages of our LY radio, and we hope to have a place in the British market."

Price showed embarrassment: "Marconi has now concluded many contracts with the Ministry of Trade, and even our Postal Service has no right to interfere."

Lord Kelvin asked in surprise, "Ministry of Trade?"

Pulis said: "Yes. And Marconi has a very close relationship with Congressman Lloyd George. It is really difficult for others to get involved."

Li Yu suddenly felt that it was very difficult. Lloyd George had great power in the British political arena. He later became the British Prime Minister and was one of the "Big Three" who manipulated the Paris Peace Conference. Not peace, but a 20-year truce" Treaty of Versailles.