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

Chapter 586 The storm is coming

Like Britain and France, Japan issued a large number of bonds in the years during World War I. The difference is that the bonds of Britain and France were issued directly through Wall Street in the United States, while Japan issued them to the four major chaebols themselves. As long as you buy at the right time, you can make a lot of money.

The Yasuda Zaibatsu earned almost 1500 million yen from bonds, which was a huge gain.

Li Yu rarely engages in financial affairs, but the little devil's money is not in vain if he doesn't make it. The more he makes, the more he will relieve his hatred.

This time Shibusawa Eiichi arranged for his son Masao Shibusawa to go to the Yasuda Zaibatsu, not for financial matters, but because Fuji Steel was facing financial problems and was on the verge of bankruptcy, and asked the Shibusawa family to come forward and let the Yasuda Zaibatsu give them some money.

Banks are very critical in regulating the economy. At this time, in Japan, in addition to a few banks controlled by the four major chaebols, there were many small banks.

At that time, Mr. Sun wanted to build 100,000 kilometers of railways, and he borrowed money through several small banks. He probably also saw that the four major chaebols are not good people. They only care about money. Even many members of Japan's political circles have nothing to do with them.

Fuji Steel is a relatively large enterprise, and it is engaged in a key industry. The first thing it wanted to do was seek financial support from the chaebol.

Japanese chaebol generally work on their own and never help weak companies. Japanese cultural circles have been cursing wildly since the early 20th century, but it makes no sense. Until Li Yu traveled through time, Japanese companies were still like this. Companies within the Mitsui Zaibatsu would basically only give work to other companies in the Mitsui Zaibatsu.

The chaebols continue to climb on the corpses of small businesses, and then spend huge sums of money to bribe senior Japanese government officials to get better policy support, thus forming a strange cycle.

Many economists in the 21st century still evaluate chaebols in this way: "You are just a group of profit-seeking businessmen. Democracy and freedom have no meaning to you."

Li Yu said domineeringly: "You just have to look forward to it! It doesn't matter whether it is developed or not, you can already buy it ready-made."

——This old man also likes Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Maybe he has read too much "Taikoden" and learned to be the emperor.

In fact, a few years ago, the founder of the Yasuda Zaibatsu, Zenjiro Yasuda, handed over the banner of the family business to his adopted son and son-in-law, Zenzaburo Yasuda, while he himself listened to politics behind the curtain.

Shibusawa Masao introduced Li Yu to Yasuda Zenjiro.

Li Yu was shocked that the other party actually regarded him as a Wall Street giant...

Because Zenjiro Yasuda also has three biological sons. The three sons disliked their brother-in-law and slandered him every day. In the end, Yasuda Zenjiro took back his power.

Masao Shibusawa drove into an American car and took Li Yu away. He said, "I heard that many of the technologies in this car come from Mr. Li Yu."

Li Yu smiled and said: "Win-win cooperation, win-win cooperation."

Zenjiro Yasuda said: "The lofty American Wall Street giants are actually willing to cooperate with specific Japanese companies, which is really what we want."

Well said, but still useless.

When arriving at Yasuda's house, Masao Shibusawa went directly to the housekeeper and asked where Mr. Zenjiro Yasuda was.

Li Yu said casually: "I'm quite interested in machinery."

It's just that Yasuda Zenjiro's move was a bad move and triggered a power struggle within the family.

"Yes," Li Yu nodded, and then said bluntly, "You have ambitions, and we have funds."

"The big boss of the Mitsui family?" Yasuda Zenjiro asked in surprise.

Li Yu took the opportunity to say: "I hope we can cooperate in the future. Mr. Masuda Takashi has already agreed to our request for cooperation."

Masao Shibusawa said: "There are simply too many! From engines, gearboxes, chassis to electronic ignition systems, lighting systems, your technology is hidden in almost every touchable place. None of them are It’s so simple that even the professors at the Faculty of Engineering at Tokyo Imperial University can’t figure it out. And you actually have so many patents!”

Li Yu said: "Soon our LY Asset Management Company will appoint President David Buick to contact Mr. Xi on specific matters."

Zenjiro Yasuda also repeated: "Win-win cooperation!"

Zenjiro Yasuda asked: "Isn't the president sir? Do you also like Toyotomi Hideyoshi?"

After all, he is a person who can be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Even if Zenjiro Yasuda does not understand science, he still knows Li Yu's influence. He shook hands and said: "It is an honor to meet you, sir."

Li Yu said: "If I insist on talking about how to get the emperor, I would rather give the example of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan and others. Besides, this is just a regular corporate arrangement, not listening to politics behind the curtain."

Zenjiro Yasuda said: "So, this company is just a subsidiary of you?"

Li Yu shrugged: "That's understandable for the time being."

Zenjiro Yasuda suddenly felt that Li Yu was unfathomable. A subsidiary company had such strength, and he wanted to conduct economic cooperation with them even more.

Li Yu had an expression as if you just had to figure it out. He was trying to get by without going into any more details, which made him feel a little itchy.

Zenjiro Yasuda quickly said: "I will ask Saburo to draw up the terms of cooperation as soon as possible."

Li Yu said casually: "We are waiting for you."

In the future, two of Japan's four major chaebols will gradually have a lot of Li Yu shares, which will allow them to make money, distribute their own dividends, and make money on their own.

And Li Yu is not short of money, and these funds will definitely be used back home, whether it is to fund national enterprises or provide disaster relief, as long as they are not used for military expenses.

Only then did Masao Shibusawa talk about his Fuji Steel matter. Although Zenjiro Yasuda and Shibusawa Eiichi did not have a good personal relationship, they had to give him face, so he readily agreed. In order to get it done quickly, he also expressed his willingness to go together. Check out the factory.

Li Yu also wanted to take a look at what these early Japanese steel companies were like. Japan's major steel-making companies in later generations have always been known as models of "craftsman spirit."

(It’s just that this so-called “craftsman’s spirit” seemed to have collapsed before Li Yu’s time travel, and the big scandal of Kobe Steel’s fraud broke out. Then a lot of similar fake news appeared, and the “craftsman’s spirit” suddenly became a bit "The spirit of craftsmanship")

Again, of course, we must treat Japanese companies with a certain degree of respect, but Li Yu has always believed that we should not engage in excessive myth propaganda. Li Yu is not a person who likes to engage in mindless boycotts. He has no excessive resistance to Japanese products, but he has always been particularly disgusted by the mindless Japanese who are active on the Internet.

Shibusawa Masao drove his car over. Unexpectedly, Yasuda Zenjiro was furious after seeing it and said: "What a waste! Why take a car? The train is so convenient!"

Masao Shibusawa was a little surprised: You are a chaebol boss, what kind of tricks can you do?

But he had no choice but to buy a ticket together and take the tram.

When he arrived at the factory, Li Yu found that the scale of the steel plant was not large, and it was several orders of magnitude smaller than the Hanyang Iron Plant in Wuhan. It shouldn't be an important steel factory.

It may also be that Japan lacks iron ore and cannot build large-scale steel plants.

After the visit, Shibusawa Masao proposed to go to a restaurant for dinner, but Yasuda Zenjiro refused: "I brought my own!"

After saying that, he actually took out his bento and ate it.

Li Yu and Masao Shibusawa were stunned.

This old man started from scratch and seems to be a bit frugal and traditional.

In the past, Li Yu heard that some big bosses would let the faucets run drop by drop so that the water meter would not move and a bucket of water would be available the next day.

What you said is true. It was relatively easy to get in touch with the two major chaebols, and they successfully completed the investment before World War I.

It was also smooth to get David Buick to come forward. All contracts were signed by him, and Li Yu stayed out of the matter on the surface.

As long as the layout is completed at the financial level, Mitsui and Yasuda will almost be settled once and for all.

The trouble is Mitsubishi.

Mitsubishi's heavy industry and military industry were not something Li Yu was involved in. He could only influence their key technology leaders at the technical level in the future.

Fortunately, Li Yu has some ideas in his mind, so he won't miss it.

Li Yu left Yao Hongye and Zou Rong with David Buick, and after a while, Zou Rong could go to the Northeast.

After arranging things in Japan, Li Yu returned to China by boat.

-

This trip took a long time. Lu Bicheng took her children and Zhao Qian to the pier to wait one day in advance. Tang Shaoyi, Shi Liangcai and others also came with them that day.

After seeing Li Yu, Shi Liangcai smiled and said: "Sir, he won the Nobel Prize again. The newspapers have been advertising it for half a year, and finally the rightful owner has been welcomed back!"

Lu Bicheng also smiled and said: "Now there are people visiting my door every day. I want Uncle Wang to remove the threshold."

Tang Shaoyi said: "It's a pity that we don't understand what superconducting and diamagnetism are, so we can only do it happily. Later, Hu Gang, who was studying in the United States, wrote an article and published it in "Science Magazine", and we finally understood what happened. thing."

Shi Liangcai said: "The circulation of that issue of Science Magazine hit a new high. Although brother Xiao Zhai (Zhang Yuanji) had predicted it and doubled the printing volume, the supply still exceeded demand."

Zhao Qian said: "When I went to the teahouse, even the bannermen carrying cages and walking birds had to say a few words about superconducting and diamagnetism, otherwise they would appear to be uneducated."

Shi Liangcai said: "By the way, I heard that there is news coming out of the Forbidden City again. I hope that when you are fine, you will serve as the emperor's advisor again and assist Emperor Xuantong."

Li Yu immediately refused: "How can I have that time!"

"That's right!" Tang Shaoyi said, "Are you kidding me, asking Mr. Li Yu, a great scientific giant, to give lectures to Emperor Xun? Isn't this a big joke!"

Everyone was talking as they got on the train back to the capital.

Li Yu handed a stack of manuscripts to Lu Bicheng: "I was bored on the boat and wrote a science fiction thriller called "Alien". I'd like to trouble my wife to polish it up."

"Thriller? Horror theme? It won't be scary, right?" Lu Bicheng asked.

Tang Shaoyi laughed loudly on the side: "Mrs. Li, you are known as a chivalrous woman, how can you be afraid of horror stories?"

Lu Bicheng's face turned slightly red: "I'm just asking, of course I'm not afraid!"

After getting off the train, several people encountered a newsboy shouting: "Excuse me! The Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Europe has been assassinated!"

Shi Liangcai bought a newspaper, read it briefly and said: "An unknown assassin assassinated the crown prince? It feels a bit like the assassination of Ito Hirobumi a few years ago."

Tang Shaoyi smoked a cigarette and said: "I remember that the emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was already quite old. He seemed to be eighty-three or four years old? Can he swallow this breath?"

Shi Liangcai said: "The source of the Times reprinted in the newspaper said that Vienna was very angry and strongly demanded war."

Li Yu also read the newspaper, and then said: "The old emperor still has some political experience. Although he agreed to the parliament's request for war, he additionally required a security commitment from Germany. After all, there cannot be an isolated war in such a large area of ​​Europe. "

Tang Shaoyi asked: "Is there any follow-up news?"

Shi Liangcai shook his head: "No, but as long as there is new news about this kind of thing, even if the newspaper has been printed, it will be distributed as an extra issue. Everyone wants to grab the headlines."

This is a turbulent era, and Tang Shaoyi has a relatively high political sensitivity. He said slowly: "The rain is about to come, and the wind is everywhere."

Somewhat magically, there has been no new news for several days.

In fact, after the shooting in Sarajevo, there was at least a month of political consultations. If, it can only be said that if, one side is dominated by doves and does not add fuel to the flames, there may not be a war at all.

But the grievances between European countries are too deep.

The special envoy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire went to Berlin with a personal letter from Emperor Joseph and asked Kaiser Wilhelm II: "Austro-Hungary is ready to declare war on Serbia. Is Berlin willing to align with Vienna?"

The Kaiser quickly convened the highest-level meeting of imperial ministers. The Kaiser himself, the Chancellor, and the Chief of the General Staff all agreed to go to war, and then asked the Austro-Hungarian envoy to return to Vienna with a secret message.

Germany only requires two things: first, it must act quickly, and it must take action before France and Russia are ready; second, the action must be kept secret.

However, out of its obligation to the Triple Alliance, Germany told the news to another ally, Italy, as usual.

As expected, Italy did not disappoint everyone and sold the intelligence to France and Russia.

This is great, Paris and St. Petersburg completely know about Germany and Austria's plan.

Italy is worthy of being a pig teammate, and has repeatedly provided great assists...

French President Raymond Poincaré (the cousin of the great mathematician Poincaré) was somewhat sensible. After receiving the news, he immediately went to St. Petersburg to meet with Russian Emperor Nicholas II.

Then he met with the Austro-Hungarian ambassador and expressed his views on the Sarajevo incident: "The head of every country has suffered political assassinations. If every time something like this happened, it was necessary to go to war with neighboring countries, then Europe would have been a sea of ​​​​fire." .”

Then he did not forget to add: "I want to remind your country that Serbia also has friends."

Use both soft and hard tactics.

France has been sharpening its sword to fight.

The most pitiful thing was Serbia. Austria-Hungary quickly sent an ultimatum; on the other hand, France and Russia demanded that Serbia must not compromise. This small country doesn't even have the right to choose, and has long since fallen into a huge whirlpool.

In short, nothing can be stopped.

During this period, Li Yuze quickly found someone to translate Star Wars, and then injected some funds into major domestic national enterprises, while letting them clear their appetites so that they could welcome the wealth that was about to fall from the sky.

(End of this chapter)