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

Chapter 634 Leeks
On the second day after Li Yu arrived in Shanghai, Zhang Jingjiang and Principal Jiang suddenly came to the door.

After the greetings, Li Yu wondered what they were doing here: "Isn't General Jiang fighting on the front line?"

Principal Jiang said slightly frustrated: "Mr. Sun is gone, what's the point of me being in Guangdong? Revolution, hey, it's just a joke! Why not follow Brother Jingjiang to Shanghai to do stock business and earn some money."

Comrade Chiang Kai-shek's performance in the Guangdong Army was actually quite impressive. The Commander-in-Chief of the Guangdong Army, Chen Jiongming, once praised him: "The Guangdong Army can be defeated without one brother."

However, Principal Chiang still decided to resign and come to Shanghai. On the one hand, he was squeezed out by the Cantonese generals; on the other hand, Chiang Kai-shek looked down on Chen Jiongming's warlord style. Chen Jiongming's slogan was "Guangdong for Cantonese people", which made Chiang Kai-shek I always feel that this person will betray the revolution.

——Old Jiang really guessed right. A few years later, Chen Jiongming did rebel.

Chiang Kai-shek also proposed to Mr. Sun that he should first stabilize Guangdong and Guangxi, and then proceed with the Northern Expedition. Unfortunately, Mr. Sun himself was squeezed out.

With nowhere to display his ambitions, Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to come to Shanghai.

The transportation captain's performance in the later war was astonishing, and all kinds of micro-manipulations were incredible and inexplicable; but at this time, he was still too clever when facing the old warlords, and basically no warlord could be noticed by him. After that, the Northern Expedition It is even more destructive, just like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.

Zhang Jingjiang said: "I joined a stock exchange in Shanghai, and Zhongzheng followed me to do some trading work. Mr. Academician is a rare financial wizard who can achieve remarkable achievements in the U.S. stock market, so I would like to ask for your guidance. guide."

The title of "Financial Wizard" is too flattering to Li Yu, and it is just the deception of a time traveler.

Li Yu said: "I don't engage in speculation, but I am listed on the US stock market as a real enterprise."

"We understand," Lao Jiang said, "but now you can make a lot of money by speculating, and if you don't make money, you won't make it in vain! Wasn't the American stock market like this in the past?"

Zhang Jingjiang pulled Lao Jiang and then said to Li Yu: "Mr. Sun entrusted us to establish the Stock Exchange to raise revolutionary funds, not just for speculation."

Li Yu asked: "Who is the major shareholder of the stock exchange?"

"Japanese," Zhang Jingjiang said, "but the chairman is Mr. Yu Qiaqing, so he should be very safe."

"Sure enough," Li Yu said, and then asked, "What are you going to do?"

Lao Jiang said: "Brother Jingjiang tried to get some secret information on the exchange; Chen Guofu and I set up an investment company to buy stocks that were about to rise."

Li Yu was a little dumbfounded. Comrade Chiang Kai-shek's thinking was a bit too simplistic. Isn't this pure stock market leek...

"Have you ever seen stock market transactions in the United States or the United Kingdom?" Li Yu asked.

Zhang Jingjiang said: "I know the people in Paris, they..."

Principal Jiang interrupted Zhang Jingjiang: "As I said, we are different from them. It was too early to go back to that era! Now we just have to make money through speculation!"

Li Yu shrugged: "To be honest, although I am involved in finance, I only deal with a few banks and do not directly participate in stock market transactions. And according to the rules of the stock, this is an obvious violation."

Zhang Jingjiang said: "So that's it. Sir, don't be surprised. Our exchange does not have a complete set of regulations or laws."

Li Yu warned: "Because of this, the stock market is even more risky, so you need to be cautious when entering the industry! Finance has the most pitfalls in all transactions, and it is the kind that eats people without spitting out their bones."

Principal Jiang didn't care: "As long as you can get money, what's so difficult about the small stock market? What's more, it's just an early stage stock market, and we have insiders."

He was determined to enter the market.

As for Lao Jiang's investment level, I really can't praise him. He entered the market three times, and each time he lost everything and invested a lot of money.

The third time, he lost a terrifying amount of nearly one million yuan. Creditors chased him every day. If he hadn't used connections to get Huang Jinrong's name, old Jiang Ke would have been in misery.

Li Yu said: "Insiders may not be able to make money, because everyone's information is limited, and the market has always been unpredictable, and even the most powerful mathematical tools cannot predict it. The market has an invisible hand that controls everything, simply Speculation is like gambling.”

"Invisible big hand?" Lao Jiang asked, "What is this?"

Li Yu said: "It comes from Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations". It's hard for me to explain specifically. You can buy a copy and read it. It is a classic work of economics."

"Is there a Chinese version?" Lao Jiang asked.

Li Yu said: "It seems that Mr. Yan Fu translated part of it, called "Yuan Fu"."

"I will read it when I have time, thank you for reminding me." Lao Jiang said.

It is estimated that Chiang Kai-shek just talked about it and it is impossible to read it.

Zhang Jingjiang finally asked: "Mr. Academician, is it true that you are not prepared to engage in stock trading at all?"

Li Yu said: "I have a psychological fear of Big A and will never do stock trading."

"What is Big A?" Zhang Jingjiang asked.

Li Yu casually prevaricated: "The abbreviation of the stock exchange."

Seeing that Li Yu refused to engage in stock trading, Zhang Jingjiang and Lao Jiang could only say goodbye and leave. But they are not in a bad mood, because Li Yu is not only a leader in science, but his economic achievements are also staggering. His unwillingness to engage in secret transactions is a good thing for others.

-

When the plane returned to Beijing, Li Yu continued to take the flight from beginning to end.

Beijing is currently in the midst of a congressional election, and the only ones that can compete are the Anfu Department, the Research Department, and the Transportation Department. As a core figure in the Research Department, Liang Qichao has retired from politics, but he still has to help canvass for votes no matter what, so he So I got on this flight.

In addition to Liang Qichao, Jiang Baili and Lin Changmin were also on the same journey.

Liang Qichao said to Li Yu: "Brother Shucai is becoming more and more admirable. You have accomplished such a difficult thing as flying. It seems that almost everything you say comes true, and everything you do becomes a success." real."

Li Yu smiled and said: "Coincidence, coincidence!"

Jiang Baili likes flying very much and said excitedly: "When I accompanied General Cai E in Japan, he repeatedly mentioned to me about taking a plane that time, which made me very envious. Today I finally got my wish."

Liang Qichao said: "Can you please stop standing up all the time? It looks so scary." Jiang Baili said: "I see how planes drop bombs and engage in air combat. As a soldier, I don't know how embarrassing this is."

Li Yu said: "Brother Baili, this is a civilian aircraft and has no military combat capabilities at all."

"What a pity!" Jiang Baili said regretfully, "I really want to know how the aircraft fights. I really hope to go to Europe to see it again!"

Liang Qichao said with some worry: "It's incredible. Since we declared war on Germany, Germany has taken more and more initiative on the battlefield. The 'Emperor's Battle' waged by the Germans in the past few months has caused the British army to retreat for dozens of miles, almost to one The situation at the beginning of the war will be at the gate of Paris soon.”

Military fan Jiang Baili said: "Have you read the editorial in the German newspaper Deutsche Zeitung? They said, 'The Anglo-Saxons are the masters of the world. It is just a self-deceptive view. Either everyone believes it, or everyone abandons it. , otherwise the world cannot have true peace. We are determined to achieve this with the sword, because our enemies will not allow it any other way."

Lin Changmin said: "It's such a loud tone. They seem to really feel that they have a chance to win."

Li Yu said: "You have to do this even if you deceive yourself and others."

"Are you not panicking at all?" Lin Changmin asked curiously, "If Germany wins, your factory in Shanghai will probably go bankrupt."

"And I remember that Shucai has a good relationship with Germany. Academician Planck of the German Academy of Sciences and Hilbert of Göttingen have had friends with you for many years." Liang Qichao said.

"It's different, we belong to the scientific community," Li Yu emphasized again, "and except for a few people in the German scientific community, most of them are opposed to this stupid war. Another friend of mine, Mr. Einstein, even bluntly said that Europe Politicians are stupid shortsighteds.”

Lin Changmin said: "Without the blessing of science and technology, this war would not have been so protracted and resulted in heavy casualties. If we continued to follow the path of the West, it would be unimaginable given the level of chaos among domestic warlords."

Li Yu said: "This is not a problem of technology, but human nature."

Liang Qichao said: "It seems that Shucai still firmly believes that Germany will lose?"

Li Yu said: "It is obvious that as long as the Allies can hold on until the five million American troops arrive on the European battlefield, the outcome will be clear. The Germans only have a few months and can only take a big gamble."

Li Yu suddenly and inexplicably thought of the Japanese army's "Operation No. 1" at the end of the Anti-Japanese War, which was the Battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi. The Japanese army also achieved incredible results as if returning to the past.

However, the two are quite different in nature. In the First World War, the Western Front was generally evenly matched. The Battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi...

Li Yu then asked Liang Qichao and Lin Changmin: "Are you sure about this election?"

Lin Changmin said: "Our research department has never been united enough. Although it has a very high reputation, the level of organization is not high and everyone works independently. However, the system and election methods of this new parliament were drafted and designed by our research department under the leadership of Ren Gong. , so I still have some hope.”

Liang Qichao suddenly asked: "Brother Shucai, you should also have a vote. Who will you vote for? You are a bit like the research department, but you are also a bit like the transportation department."

The main components of the transportation system in the early years of the Republic of China were national entrepreneurs, based on the main industrial forces after the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty and the Postal and Communications Department that once controlled the economic lifeline of the Beiyang government. The Transportation Department has always controlled the financial lifeline of the Republic of China, including Bank of Communications, Bank of China, and the four major private banks in the north. The current leader is Liang Shiyi.

However, although the transportation department has strong financial resources, it also lacks strong political ambitions. Its operation is not like a political party, but more pragmatic and random.

Li Yu smiled and said: "What effect will my vote have? But I will definitely vote for the research department."

Lin Changmin was overjoyed: "How can it be useless? Support will help!"

Liang Qichao said: "There are many scholars in Beijing, so they will definitely support the research department. Our chances of winning are not necessarily that small."

Li Yu said: "Mr. Ren, you are aboveboard in your work, but politics is not clean. If the Anfu Clique uses some abnormal means, it will be difficult to deal with them. Because they are in the dark."

Liang Qichao said: "No matter what, I have to bite the bullet!"

Compared with the first congressional election in the Yuan Shikai era, this election had a very large impact on society, but more people still watched this drama in a fun-loving way and with a mentality.

Everyone already has a deep understanding of democracy, but they are still unclear about what democracy is, let alone the rules of democratic elections, and their attitude is very careless. The entire election process is an extremely absurd and chaotic scene of interest exchange, inducement and deception, subversion of one's strengths and weaknesses, and adding insult to injury.

The price and daily rise and fall of the votes will gradually be published in newspapers. It was originally used for supervision, but now it has become a commodity that can be bought and sold, as easy as buying food.

A large number of ballots that should have been sent to voters were intercepted and filled out privately; the Anfu Department even hired many gangsters to vote.

Of course, the Anfu Department was not the only one who violated the rules, but their actions were far less thorough than those of the Anfu Department.

Soon, the Transportation Department, which had a businessman's speculative mentality, saw that the situation was over. It had no intention of competing with the Anfu Department and fell in favor of the Anfu Department. The only unlucky ones were the research departments where Liang Qichao and Lin Changmin worked.

There is no doubt that the result of the national vote was a huge victory for the Anfu faction. Among the 470 seats in Congress, the Anfu faction controlled 342; of the remaining 128 seats, the Transportation faction controlled 50 to 50. Of the eighty seats, the research department controls 20 seats and the other seats are occupied by independents.

Liang Qichao's sadness has not stopped yet.

Just two or three months later, another leader of the research department, Tang Hualong, was assassinated in Vancouver.

Li Yu had met him before, when Tang Hualong was the Minister of Education.

When he went to Vancouver this time, Tang Hualong was commissioned by the Beiyang government to inspect the operation of the political system in North America. Unexpectedly, he was inexplicably killed by Wang Chang, an assassin of the Kuomintang.

The Kuomintang called Tang Hualong "Yuan's lackey and Duan's accomplice", but in fact Tang Hualong could not be one of theirs.

This bloody and violent method made Liang Qichao completely disillusioned with politics.

"Dark, too dark!" Liang Qichao said to Li Yu.

Li Yu was familiar with it. Although the reality was more terrifying than the history books, he still had a psychological expectation, so he turned to him and said: "After some time, Americans should open another university in the capital. Since Mr. Ren is interested in If you are interested in learning, why not join in the fun?"

Liang Qichao said: "What about the new university? After it is established, I can go and see it just like I went to Tsinghua University. Even now, the thinking of the new students is changing so fast that I feel I can't keep up."

Li Yu said: "If Mr. Ren writes a vernacular article, he will definitely gain a lot of attention."

Liang Qichao shook his head and said, "I can't write about cannibalism, and those newcomers to the literary world are really sharp. If I'm not careful, I might become the target of attack."

Historically, the relationship between Lu Xun and Liang Qichao after the Republic of China was not very good.

Li Yu smiled and said: "So you are also afraid that the young dragon slayer will turn into an evil dragon."

"Evil dragon?" Liang Qichao said happily, "It's a good metaphor, but I can't be an evil dragon."