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

When Li Yu woke up in the morning, Jinwei Zhaoxue was still lying beside him.

Li Yu pretended to be shocked: "Why are you here?"

"I hate it!" Konoe Zhaoxue thumped him lightly, "Don't you remember what you did yesterday?"

Li Yu rubbed his head: "I drank too much yesterday, I've never had such a strong drink, I can't remember anything."

Konoe Zhaoxue was also muttering in his heart: I did take too much medicine yesterday, and he kept torturing me for half the night and refused to admit it in the morning.

But Konoe Zhaoxue is a smart person, he rolled his eyes and said, "Master, don't worry, I won't tell Madam."

When she said this, Li Yu felt that this woman was not simple, and her scheming was unfathomable.

"Dong dong dong!" There was a knock on the door.

Li Yu hurriedly got dressed, and there was Iwasaki Koyata outside the door: "Mr. Li Yu, let's go to the head office to sign."

After Konoe Akiyuki saw that the top brass of Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsui Corporation paid so much attention to Li Yu, he felt that his mission was even more meaningful.

Li Yu came to the Mitsubishi head office with Iwasaki Koyata and Iwasaki Hisaya.

Mitsubishi is now very large, accounting for almost [-]% to [-]% of the Japanese shipping market.Japan is an island country and is very dependent on the navigation industry. Mitsubishi naturally makes money and makes money.

However, as soon as Li Yu entered their headquarters, he had a bad feeling because he saw a steering wheel - the steering wheel of the Beiyang Navy Dingyuan in the Sino-Japanese War of [-]-[-].

At that time, Hisaya Iwasaki joined forces with Japanese financial and business leaders Eiichi Shibusawa, Yukichi Fukuzawa and others to initiate the establishment of the so-called "Report to the National Assembly" in response to Japan's military expansion and preparations for war.

The National Assembly used Japanese media to promote "loyalty to the emperor and patriotism" to the people, and asked all citizens to donate everything to "defeat the Qing Dynasty."

The National Assembly not only frantically incited war fever, but also issued 8000 million yen in military bonds for the Japanese government. Considering Japan's economic situation at the time, this was a staggering astronomical figure.

Moreover, Hisaya Iwasaki also handed over his Mitsubishi Cruise Line ship to the Japanese government, which was responsible for transporting troops and food, and even conducted reconnaissance missions for the Japanese military.

It is because of these credits that a senior officer of the Japanese Navy, Ito Yuhiro, expressed his gratitude by dismantling the steering wheel of the main battleship Dingyuan of the Beiyang Navy and giving it to Mitsubishi as a trophy.

Don't think that Hisaya Iwasaki and the others did these things because of patriotism, and they all have real rewards.Before and after the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan had a total of 2.5 million yen in temporary military expenditures, equivalent to more than twice its usual fiscal revenue.

This piece of fat ended up in the mouths of chaebols such as "Mitsubishi" and "Mitsui".

Previously, Mitsubishi and Mitsui fought extremely fiercely in the commercial war, and Mitsubishi was almost unable to support it. The two sides saw that the war turned out to be so profitable, so they stopped engaging in commercial wars and turned to war funding.

There are many reasons why Zhang Zuolin was killed by the Japanese, but generally speaking, he was dissatisfied with the Japanese, did not want to be their agent, and then took back some Japanese interests in Northeast China.Among these interests, soybean trade is closely related to Mitsui and other chaebols.

Iwasaki Koyata must have known that this was the steering wheel of the Dingyuan, but he did not shy away from letting Li Yu see it. Perhaps in his heart, Li Yu, like himself, was a person who would not stick to trivial matters and even give up the bottom line for money.After all, among the Manchu nobles he came into contact with, all of them betrayed their country without any psychological burden. Especially the top official among the officials, Prince Qing, was simply a model of traitor.

Li Yu came to their office with the Iwasaki brothers and carefully read the basic terms. There is no difference from what was said yesterday. As for the more specific details, it is natural to improve them in the operation. As long as it is the key delivery of goods, capital price, and payment It is enough to have the key contents such as conditions, liability for breach of contract, and arbitration clause in advance.

Hisaya Iwasaki, the boss of Mitsubishi, said: "If you think there is no problem, you can stamp it."

"Seal?" Li Yu suddenly realized that he did not seal the letter, so he asked, "Can't you sign it?"

Iwasaki Hisaya thought for a while and said, "It's okay, but after three days, I still have to make up chapters."

Li Yu said awkwardly, "I do not have a seal."

"Easy!" Iwasaki Koyata said, "Let's carve one for you first."

Japan has learned everything from China, including the culture of seals, but just like calligraphy and painting, Japan has only scratched the surface.But this thing is so elegant that Japan’s upper class likes it very much.

In fact, Li Yu will rely heavily on seals in China in the future. All domestic transactions will basically be stamped without signature.Signatures are mainly used by Westerners, because they don't even know how to engrave seals.

There are many seal-cutting masters in China now, but water from afar cannot quench the thirst of those close by. Li Yu said: "I will come here first to get one."

Hisaya Iwasaki said: "It just so happens that I have an expert here who has learned seal cutting from Xiling Seal Society in Hangzhou, Kawai Tsuenlu."

Kawai Tsuenyu is known as the Japanese Seal Clan, but in fact it is not as good as those masters in China, but it is indeed the best seal carver in Japan.

Li Yu said, "Thank you, Mr. Iwasaki."

Hisaya Iwasaki continued: "This person is now in the Jingjiatang of our Iwasaki family. By the way, you can take a look at our family's collections for decades. I believe you will not see so many collections in Japan."

Several people immediately went to Jingjiatang, where historically the books in the Song Dynasty Tower were hidden.

Along the way, Iwasaki Koyata continued to brag about Kawai Tsuenlu's abilities: "When Mr. Kawai was in Hangzhou, he studied under master Wu Changshuo. According to him, he has learned the essence of it and will definitely be the number one seal carving craftsman in the country in the future."

Li Yu felt dizzy when he heard the word "craftsman", but he couldn't expose it face to face, so he could only deal with it: "It's really amazing!"

However, Hisaya Iwasaki's statement that there are currently the most abundant collections in Japan is somewhat true.

The Iwasaki family has always liked collecting, otherwise they would not have gone to China to buy so many ancient books.

Jinggado is used by the Iwasaki family to collect antiques.

At this time, the most conspicuous exhibition room in Jingjia Hall is not small, but there are few things. There are two small porcelains in the center—it is really small.

But when he saw the nameplate, Li Yu knew why they were placed here. The two items were called "Fuzao Eggplant" and "Matsumoto Eggplant" respectively.

They are the most sacred products of Japanese tea ceremony and were introduced to Japan during the Southern Song Dynasty.During the Warring States Period in Japan, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu all flocked to it, and it almost became a symbol of power.

The scientific name of these two things is "charu", which is a utensil used in the tea ceremony. It looks like a fat round eggplant, so it has the name "eggplant".

At that time, in order to buy them, Mitsubishi's second-generation president Yanosuke Iwasaki spent a whole year's salary of himself.

In addition to these two holy objects of the tea ceremony, there are many other tea sets around, which are basically things from the Warring States Period of Japan and are of great value.

Another prominent exhibition room has a large collection of Japanese samurai swords, many of which are also antiques, which are national treasures for the Japanese, but when Li Yu sees a samurai sword, he thinks of the war of aggression against China, which is so annoying.

As for why the Iwasaki family was able to acquire so many collections, it has a lot to do with the Meiji Restoration.In the 1870 years since 30, the Meiji government, determined to "leave Asia and enter Europe", implemented a series of decrees to "abolish Buddha and destroy interpretation".Even such a prominent Buddhist temple as Horyuji Temple in Nara has to take the initiative to hand over the treasures in the temple to the emperor (that is, the collection of the Horyuji Treasure Hall of the Tokyo National Museum in later generations) in order to escape disaster.

On the other hand, the great masters and samurai families who have lost their social status are also constantly selling old collections at low prices in order to solve the difficulties of life.

It can be said that the unfortunate fate of Japanese traditional antiquities during those 30 years was similar to the turbulent periods in China's past dynasties.

(No insinuation, but this kind of thing really happened in many countries.)
In the Meiji society dominated by Western culture at that time, foreign-style objects were more popular among Japanese collectors. On the contrary, people from Europe and the United States and even Chinese scholars flocked to Japan to collect cultural relics.For example, Huang Zunxian, Miao Quansun, Yang Shoujing, etc. who went to Japan, they collected many rare books and secret books and returned them to China.

If Li Yu wants to collect cultural relics in Japan now, he can still collect many things from the Tokugawa Shogunate, Japan's Warring States Period, and even the Kamakura period at very low prices.

Iwasaki Hisaya pointed to the two most expensive swords in the Sword Gym and said, "This one is the Takutachi Haunaga, and this one is the Kobizen Takatsuna Takato."

Li Yu knew very little about samurai swords. At most, he only knew a few swords from Zoro in One Piece, such as Qiushui, Wado Ichimonji, and the Third Generation Kitetsu.

If I insist on making an analogy, the two swords Iwasaki collected are equivalent to the top twelve swords in One Piece.

The Iwasaki family collected so many famous swords because of the policies of the Meiji government. In 1877 (the [-]th year of the Meiji period), Japan issued the "Abolition of Swords" order, which explicitly prohibited people from wearing knives except those wearing formal attire (mainly members of the royal family), soldiers and police.

Overnight, countless samurai families were forced to sell their famous swords.The Iwasaki family took this opportunity and made a lot of money.

Other exhibition rooms contain a large number of porcelain, lacquerware, ancient books and so on.

In short, the collection of books in the Song Tower did not make Li Yu feel more distressed, and the subsequent exhibition rooms did not seem to cause any major psychological disturbance.

When the visit was over, Kawai Tsuen Lu was already waiting in the living room.

Li Yu wrote the three characters "Li Yuyin" on the paper. Kawai Tsuenlu said: "Academician Li Yu is proficient in Western learning. I don't know what font he wants to use?"

Li Yu couldn't say much, so he could only casually say, "Let's try to be as primitive and simple as possible."

Hejing Quanlu said with a little appreciation: "Forging new learning, but also returning to simplicity, it really means returning to the basics."

Hejing Tsuenlu asked again: "Do I need to make a seal pattern first and then engrave it?"

"It's too late," Li Yu said, "Sir, you can play freely, time is tight."

Generally speaking, it takes more than three or four days to engrave a high-quality seal.

Hisaya Iwasaki added: "Mr. Kawai chooses the best jade, and we pay for it."

Li Yu understood the reasoning behind it. This was their gesture of favor and a psychological test, so he agreed, "Thank you, Mr. Iwasaki."

To be honest, these large Japanese conglomerates respect Li Yu very much.

After all, they are businessmen. This is almost the case in ancient and modern China and abroad. No matter how poor the country is, as long as everyone can do business, they will be treated as distinguished guests.

Li Yu had a classmate back then, whose family was engaged in foreign trade business. Li Yu found that they did not worship foreigners at all, and their attitude was very simple: let me make money, you are the customer and God; if you can’t make me make money, you still look down on me , regardless of whether he is an orthodox British or French aristocrat, he is nothing in my eyes.

Three days later, Hejing Quanlu finished engraving the seal, and Li Yu took it over to look at it. He felt very good, but Hejing Quanlu was a little bit sorry: "I feel like rushing to work. Once there is a time limit, I finally understand that I and Wu Changshuo How big is the gap between masters. If you go to Hangzhou in the future, you must continue to study."

Hejing Quanlu did go to Hangzhou to study almost every year thereafter.

Li Yu wondered, "Why don't you just engrave a character? There's such a big gap?"

"It should be said that the gap is very huge!" Kawai Tsuenlu sighed, "It will be a big deal if Mr. Wu can obtain a seal from Master Wu Changshuo in the future."

Li Yu shrugged his eyebrows. It was indeed necessary to engrave another seal after returning home.

After all, I already have a lot of collections. According to the rules of the collection industry, the collections need to be stamped.

——Of course not the dog-skin plaster-level seal like Emperor Qianlong, or even put the seal on the painting.

As a collector, generally just put a small seal on the long inscriptions and postscripts specially used for stamping and inscribing poems before and after calligraphy and painting.

It is necessary to stamp it, because according to the rules of the antique industry in later generations, only cultural relics that have been passed down in an orderly manner can be auctioned.

The so-called orderly inheritance means knowing each generation of collectors.

If something dug out of a tomb is stolen suddenly, it will definitely not be circulated, and if caught, it will have to go to jail.

Li Yu first used this stamp to cover the terms of cooperation with Mitsui and Mitsubishi.

Mitsubishi's Koya Iwasaki was very happy. Although he only received cooperation in radio, this thing is valuable!
However, Masuda Takashi, the big shopkeeper of Mitsui, is also very shrewd, and is very optimistic about the progress of the car.

It's really interesting that the Mitsui family is more interested in cars at this time.

As for Li Yu, during this period of time, he has also made some progress on the car.

The Model T was only a year away, and Li Yu had to make a fortune from it.

At present, only the chassis business is involved in the three major parts. Li Yu plans to gradually enter the transmission and engine fields, so that he can gradually control the supply of all core components upstream of the car.

In the future, for GM, Ford, and Japan's future Mitsubishi Motors, at least one-third of the profits of each car sold will belong to Li Yu.

Li Yu first worked on the gearbox, and he studied the improvement of the manual transmission. The two-speed + reverse transmission of the Model T was designed to be a bit maddening and anti-human.

Li Yu planned to improve its operating logic first, and at the same time design it so that it could withstand greater torque to facilitate his future engine improvements.

This small change is enough to make Li Yu's products ahead of the times.

After that, the patent application for chassis modification, throttle logic, engine parts, and complete engine will be slowly carried out.

In fact, Li Yu just moved forward a few years later.

By slowly "squeezing toothpaste" in this way, Li Yu can maintain his patent advantage in the automotive field for a long time.The same goes for radio.