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

The establishment of Bayer's pharmaceutical factory in Shanghai attracted Wu Liande's attention. He just went south to Shanghai to form the Chinese Medical Association and paid a special visit to Li Yu's Yuyuan Garden.

"Sir, you are so elegant. You live in such a small garden with Jiangnan style." Wu Liande's expression was full of envy.

Li Yu smiled and said: "It's really luck to get this garden. Mr. Wu, please come in. I have new tea here from Hangzhou."

After taking his seat, Wu Liande went straight to the topic: "When I come to Shanghai this time, I need help with some things."

"Sir, whatever you say, I will definitely do whatever I can do." Li Yu said cheerfully.

Wu Liande said: "I have a general understanding. The German pharmaceutical factory mainly produces aspirin, and also provides other drugs, such as morphine, which is very in demand."

Li Yu immediately understood what he wanted to express and said: "This medicine is only for hospitals, and it needs to be applied for in advance, and the quantity should be reported to the superior for filing."

"I know you won't be obsessed with huge profits from morphine," Wu Liande said relaxedly, "When I first heard about the establishment of a Western medicine factory, I was happy and worried at the same time. Of course, I was worried that analgesics would become the next opium. But after I heard that Shucai was acting as director, I felt relieved."

Li Yu said: "The harm of opium is far greater than the plague, so I must be extremely cautious."

Wu Liande said: "I united with medical lofty ideals from all over the country to establish the Chinese Medical Association. The first thing I did was to use the association and all social forces to strongly recommend the government to increase the smoking cessation campaign and completely eliminate opium."

Li Yu smiled and said: "We are on the same front again."

Wu Liande said: "According to the previously signed Sino-British Anti-Smoking Treaty (Ten-Year Anti-Smoking Agreement), next year will be the last batch of opium imports to China. However, I have received news that there are foreign Jewish businessmen in Shanghai who have already accumulated a large amount of opium."

"It's Sassoon & Co." Li Yu knew about this.

When Wu Liande was young, he couldn't bear to see the upper class using all kinds of despicable means to make ill-gotten gains. He slapped the table and said, "Doesn't the Shanghai County Government care about it?"

Li Yu said helplessly: "They don't want to take care of it, let alone can't take care of it. The Sassoon family had the ability to lobby the British government to launch the Opium War, and now they are married to the Rothschild family. Even the British themselves can't do anything about them. Fortunately, India, where their tobacco is produced, is currently experiencing unrest and the non-cooperation movement, and many farmers have given up their jobs."

Wu Liande said: "I don't know much about the situation in India. I only know that it is a large country with a large area. No matter what, a large amount of tobacco is produced."

Li Yu said: "Now that the European War has broken out, many merchants' ships have been requisitioned. It may not be possible to transport the last batch of tobacco next year. After all, the British are anxious to recruit young men from India to the mainland."

1916 was the most tragic year of World War I. Basically all parties gave up all their wealth.

Britain and France not only had loans from the United States, but also had a large number of colonies receiving blood transfusions, but these colonial soldiers were completely used as cannon fodder.

Wu Liande suddenly said: "Can we unite businessmen and the government to purchase this batch of tobacco and then destroy it? It is better than letting it flow into the market and poison the people."

"Come to Shanghai Gunsmoke?" Li Yu said, "It's a bit interesting, and it can also promote cigarettes."

Because of Li Yu's early intervention, the price of tobacco in Shanghai during World War I did not surge as much as in history, otherwise it would have risen to a sky-high price of one hundred taels per pound.

——You can imagine how much ill-gotten wealth the opium dealers, including the Sassoon family, made back then.

Wu Liande said: "I just don't know if Sassoon & Co. will stop it."

"They dare not," Li Yu analyzed. "Times have changed and anti-Semitic forces in Europe have been looking for breakthroughs. Opium is undoubtedly the best excuse."

Wu Liande acted quickly and said, "That's good, I'll go investigate and prepare first."

After that, Wu Liande was responsible for the Gunsmoke Movement in Shanghai in 1919.

Gunsmoke is a bit technical, not burning.

Li Yu remembered that before time travel, a certain company held a "gunsmoke" activity, burning cigarettes directly in the playground, and everyone in the place was choked with smoke.

Lin Zexu knew about the need to use lime as early as the Qing Dynasty...

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During this time, many people came to Shanghai from the north. Liang Qichao, who had been engaged in politics for several years without any results, found Li Yu in despair.

"Brother Shucai, I took a big detour and realized that what you said was so right." Liang Qichao sighed.

"What's wrong with Mr. Ren?" Li Yu asked.

Liang Qichao said: "From now on, I will declare my separation from the political arena. Except for academic or ordinary discussions with friends, all political group relations will be suspended!"

In the past few years, he was very angry when he failed to achieve success.

"Really no longer involved in politics?" How could Li Yu believe it?

"Never get involved!" Liang Qichao said firmly, "Today's politics is so disappointing! All the smart and talented people in the country are focused on politics, arguing about issues that have no prospects, and then reaching meaningless conclusions. It is simply meaningless. Inaction! It has not cultivated more talents in society at all, but the way to save the country lies in social education. That’s why I said that I have made a big detour and found that it is a wise move for Shucai brothers to devote themselves to education.”

"The economic foundation determines the superstructure, and the political foundation lies in society." Li Yu said.

"I will use this sentence in future articles," Liang Qichao said. "In the future, I will try my best to persuade people around me not to talk about politics, which will do all harm but no good. Instead, they should devote all their energy to social education. This will It’s the only way out.”

"Mr. Ren is right," Li Yu said. "I heard that President Yuan spent a lot of money to hire Mr. Ren to write articles praising the monarchy. It seems he didn't write any of them?"

"How could I write it!" Liang Qichao said, "When Mr. Yuan came to the door, he said he would give 200,000 yuan!"

Li Yu said: "The writing fee paid by Master Yuan is astronomical."

"As soon as I heard his tone, I felt something was wrong. This kid has been thinking all day long," Liang Qichao said, "but President Yuan really wanted me to be his imperial scholar. But although I, Liang Qichao, am not a rich man, I only have 20 yuan." Don’t even think about buying me! You can’t touch politics anyway, and leading Yuan on the track of democratic politics is really wishful thinking, and we can’t continue to cooperate at all.”

Li Yu said with a smile: "Of course Ren Gong is not worth just this amount of money, at least there must be an extra zero."

"Add another zero?" Liang Qichao pointed to his head, "He might as well just take my head off and enjoy himself."

"Don't mention those things!" Liang Qichao took two sips of tea, and then said, "I have been living in Tsinghua Garden for the past two months. It is so quiet! Sure enough, learning is still in the university. It is worthy of the ivory tower. The construction of the talented brothers It has to be quite high quality.”

Li Yu asked: "What new works does Mr. Ren have?"

Liang Qichao took out a book: "I studied the political, economic, military and historical conditions of the warring countries in Europe and wrote a book "History of European Campaigns"."

"Allow me to read it," Li Yu took it, flipped through it, and asked, "Do you think Germany will win?"

"Yes," Liang Qichao said, "Germany is leading in all aspects. It has a good army and military, excellent political system, superb academics, advanced ideas, and a united and moral people. Kaiser Wilhelm II is even more heroic and powerful. A model of modern monarchy. How can a country like this be defeated?"

Li Yu said: "But Germany's quick war plan has failed." Liang Qichao said:

“It will indeed be a protracted war from now on. In a stalemate, what determines the final outcome is not the quality of strategy, but the strength of endurance.

Sustainability lies in the number of troops, military food, and weapons.

In terms of weapons, Germany has the strongest endurance, and there is no major problem with military supplies. It is only slightly weaker in terms of military numbers, that is, its ability to replenish its troops. If the campaign is extended beyond one or two years, Germany will be in a losing position. This is the only means for Britain, France and Russia to restrain Germany, but the Allies are not good at taking advantage of their large numbers of troops.

Moreover, if the German navy goes to war and captures the English Channel, thereby cutting off the Allied arms supply route, the Allied powers' staying power will not be relied upon.

Therefore, I think Germany cannot be defeated in the end. "

Liang Qichao was really confident that Germany would win.

Li Yu then looked at it and said, "So, what impact does Mr. Ren think the European War will have on us?"

Liang Qichao said: "It will definitely play a positive role. The European War will prompt China to pay attention to changes in the world situation, compare itself, and find shortcomings so that it can be proactive."

Li Yu said: "Ren Gong still has hope."

"That's the only way," Liang Qichao said, "I hope to become as strong as Germany, at least not so passive when facing Japan. By the way, speaking of the Japanese, the Shanzhong Chamber of Commerce has come to the capital again."

"Mountain Chamber of Commerce?" Li Yu was surprised.

Liang Qichao said: "During the chaos of 1911, the Yamanaka Chamber of Commerce purchased a large number of antiques from Prince Gong's Mansion at low prices. It benefited greatly, but it was still dissatisfied. Now that Prince Chun's Mansion has suddenly released news that it wants to sell paintings, Yamanaka Sadjiro must be more interested. .”

During the Xinhai period, Prince Gong's grandson, Prince Gong Puwei, secretly sold a large number of collections in Prince Gong's palace in order to raise funds to fight against Yuan Shikai.

Yamanaka Sadjiro hurried over. When he entered Prince Gong's mansion, he was very shocked. He described in the book: "The mansion is quite large, like a warehouse. There is a Ruyi library for storing Ruyi, a calligraphy and painting library for calligraphy and painting, and a Bronze Warehouse for ancient bronzes. There are dozens of buildings like this..."

Pu Wei packaged and sold to him the bronzes, jades, and porcelain items from Prince Gong's palace, except calligraphy and paintings.

Yamanaka Sejiro was dumbfounded at the time. It was the first time he saw cultural relics being sold in packages.

The chief steward of Prince Gong's Mansion grabbed a handful of jewels with both hands like he was grabbing beans and asked him: "How much do you pay for these?"

Hey, it really hurts me to betray my father.

Because the situation was very chaotic at the time, it was impossible to estimate how many treasures were lost.

In 1913, Yamanaka Sejiro held several "Prince Gong's Collection Auctions" in New York, with a total of 536 cultural relics put up for auction. Among them, there were more than 250 pieces of jade, more than 110 pieces of bronze, and more than 130 pieces of porcelain. All the items had no first-rate results, and the total auction amount reached more than US dollars, setting a record for auction transactions.

In the same year, the Shanzhong Chamber of Commerce auctioned 210 cultural relics from Prince Gong's Mansion in London. This time, they were mainly jades, which sold for more than 6000 pounds, equivalent to US dollars.

The two collections totaled nearly a thousand pieces, and Yamanaka had sold them in Japan before the auction. Therefore, it is conservatively estimated that the number of cultural relics and treasures he purchased from Prince Gong's Mansion should be around 2000.

Regarding this matter, I can only comfort myself by saying that what was lost were relatively common cultural relics from Prince Gong's Mansion. Because in the eyes of Pu Wei and others, there are plenty of jade, bronze, and porcelain, so just give them.

As for the truly outstanding calligraphy and paintings from Prince Gong's Mansion, he is reluctant to take them out for the time being, such as the famous "Pingfu Tie".

Pu Wei was a very unsatisfied boy. He didn't inherit any of his grandfather's abilities, and later he completely defected to the Japanese.

Generally speaking, Prince Gong's Mansion fell relatively early. Later, the royal family members who took power in the late Qing Dynasty were mainly Prince Chun and Prince Qing.

As the palace of two emperors, Chunwangfu has more good things.

This time Prince Chun's Mansion is selling famous paintings from the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, and the Shanzhong Chamber of Commerce is of course bright-eyed.

Yamanaka Choujiro is an old cultural relics dealer. He understands that the essence is in calligraphy and painting, and the best price can be achieved.

Li Yu clenched his fists and said: "These remnants of the previous dynasty have given them a lot of face to live a good life, and they still want to resell cultural relics!"

Liang Qichao said: "Shucai has a lot of money, so just save it if you can - of course, I'm talking about the calligraphy and paintings sold by Prince Chun's Mansion."

Li Yu said: "I hate the Japanese the most in my life, and I must never let them take advantage!"

"Do you hate the Japanese the most?" Liang Qichao said.

"It's just compensation. After all, we lost the battle; but we cannot bear to cede territory, and even more cannot bear to kill innocent people indiscriminately." Li Yu said.

Liang Qichao said: "I have always viewed Shucai as young and mature, as if he has the wisdom to see through the world, but he still has such sentimental emotions. However, I also think that compensation is not a problem. Killing people to cede territory is unforgivable."

"You can't have a good mood towards the Japanese," Li Yu said. "I'll rush back to the capital. I hope I can make it in time."

Historically, Prince Chun's Mansion sold six paintings this time, the most famous of which was the "Six Dragons" mentioned before. Li Yu had already obtained it, and the remaining paintings were not ordinary objects.

For example, Li Gonglin's "Meeting on a Bridge" is a Yuan painting to be precise. At the Christie's auction in New York in 2017, the bidding started at 80 and sold for 1450 million U.S. dollars, which is about 1 million yuan.

Wang Mian's "Snow Plum Blossom" sold for US$750 million, or about 5000 million yuan.

Not to mention "Six Dragons", 3 million!
In short, these paintings were later bought back to China at exorbitant prices.

——It must be contained at the source.

Li Yu got on the train, rushed back to the capital, and immediately headed to Prince Chun's Mansion.

Now Prince Chun Zaifeng basically doesn't see anyone. After all, he is Puyi's father. Selling cultural relics is a shameless thing, so he always asks the housekeeper to come forward.

After many twists and turns, Li Yu met the housekeeper Zhang Binfang, but he did not expect that he refused to sell the paintings.

Li Yu sighed, guessing that he might have contacted the Japanese Yamanaka Sadjiro, and could only say: "Butler Zhang, I can only tell you this, no matter what price the Japanese offer, I will add 20%."

Zhang Binfang was stunned for two seconds and said quickly: "What Japanese? You speak really strangely, please come back!"

Unexpectedly, he was disappointed. It was probably Yamanaka Sejiro who asked him to say this, not Prince Chun.

We must find a way to get Prince Chun to speak personally about this matter, otherwise Zhang Binfang will really be sold to the Japanese.