I started with the Shinsengumi in Bakumatsu

Chapter 212 Internal combustion engine technology is obtained

On May 21, the day after the Thiers government signed a peace treaty with the German Empire, the Bloody Week of May began.

The French army stationed near Versailles launched an attack on Paris. Citizens in each district of the Paris Commune fought individually to resist the French attack.

By May 28, the Paris Commune was suppressed. Corpses were strewn across the streets of Paris, the stench was high, and rivers of blood flowed. A large number of Commune fighters were arrested.

The tragic scene of the Paris Commune was recorded by a Qing Dynasty person.

His name is Zhang Deyi, a member of the Han Army's Xianghuang Banner. When he was fifteen years old, he was admitted to the first foreign language school, Beijing Tongwenguan, based on his academic performance. He was one of only ten students in this school. One of the students, after three years of hard study, he graduated with honors and later served as the foreign language teacher of Emperor Guangxu.

Zhang Deyi came to Europe more than once. In 1866, he was sent by the Qing Dynasty to study in Europe. He traveled with the group to ten countries including France, Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Hamburg, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and Prussia, and enjoyed the sights The world style.

In 1868, he served as a translator with the diplomatic mission. This was the first time the Qing Dynasty sent a diplomatic mission to visit Europe and the United States.

In 1870, he went to France again as an attaché of the mission. This was the first time that the Qing Dynasty sent a diplomatic envoy to negotiate with a Western European country.

It was also this time that he was trapped in Paris and witnessed the beginning and end of the Paris Commune.

Last year, the Qing Dynasty sent Chonghou as envoy to France, with Zhang Deyi as his English translator.

On the 1871th of the first month of the th year of Tongzhi, that is, March , , he first went to Paris to negotiate for renting a house, and witnessed this earth-shattering incident the next day.

He has a habit of recording what he sees and hears once he travels.

This time is no exception.

While he was trapped in Paris, he recorded the barricade fighting of the Paris Commune soldiers, the demolition of the Vendôme Column and other historical scenes. This is not only consistent with the official records, but also contains many vivid and specific details.

As recorded in the Paris Barricades: "Each alleyway entrance was built with many earth and stone walls, several case walls, and wooden basket walls. They were tied with wattle and willow baskets, filled with broken objects, and piled up to form a platform. Although the cannons were put in, they could not come out. ".

Another example is when he wrote about the frenzied suppression of captured soldiers in the Versailles army: "They all covered their heads with black cloth and shot them to death." The commune warriors regarded death as homecoming and were brave and unyielding.

On April 1871, the 6th year of Tongzhi (June 2, AD), it was recorded: "There were more than Jiejingyong people downstairs, including two women. Although their clothes and shoes were in pieces and their faces were dusty, they The majestic spirit overflows from the brow."

Although Zhang Deyi was an official of an ancient feudal country in the East at that time and did not sympathize with and could not possibly understand the revolution of the Paris Commune, he left behind these stern and vivid accounts, which have become precious historical materials.

The Thiers government suppressed the Paris Commune very thoroughly. Anyone who participated in the Paris Commune was not spared. These members were either killed, imprisoned, or exiled.

There are many engineers, skilled workers, etc. among these members.

Yagyu was very envious of this, but considering that these people's doctrines would conflict with the current Japan, he could only choose to turn a blind eye.

However, Yagyu did not gain nothing. France was in chaos at the moment. He took the opportunity to get the technology he wanted from some companies that were about to go bankrupt.

Technologies such as telegraphs and submarine cables, which Japan relies on imports, were collected by Yagyu and sent back to Japan.

In addition, Yagyu is also very concerned about chemical information and internal combustion engine technology.

In 1794, the Englishman Street proposed that the internal combustion engine obtains power from the combustion of fuel, and for the first time proposed the concept of mixing fuel and air.

In 1833, the Englishman Wright proposed a design that directly used combustion pressure to push the piston to do work.

In 1860, Lenoir of France imitated the structure of a steam engine and designed and manufactured the first practical gas engine. This was an internal combustion engine without compression, electrical ignition, and using lighting gas.

Two years later, French scientist Rocha made a theoretical analysis of the thermal process of the internal combustion engine and put forward the requirement to improve the efficiency of the internal combustion engine. This was the earliest four-stroke working cycle.

This is how far the internal combustion engine has come.

Up to now, there have been no new technological breakthroughs in the internal combustion engine for several years. This technology lasted until 1876, when the German scientist Otto used Rosa's principle to successfully create the first reciprocating piston four-stroke internal combustion engine.

In order to obtain this technology, Yagyu also spent a lot of money to obtain the technology and theory of internal combustion engines from Germany. By then, German scientists will work with the Japanese to study internal combustion engines.

Once the internal combustion engine is developed, Japan can develop rapidly. With the internal combustion engine, it can change the power of ironclad ships, and even research cars, tanks, etc.

Of course, what he needs is oil.

This time, the preparations he had made before came into use.

However, he didn't know much about the specifics of internal combustion engines. He could only provide a direction for scientists to study on their own, and during this period of time, he needed to occupy more colonies with oil.

In June, Emperor Meiji and others, together with Yagyu, followed the Kaiser, Bismarck and others back to Berlin, Germany.

There are still some details they need to discuss.

The Japanese fleet anchored at Dunkirk then left for the German seaport city.

After arriving in Berlin, Yagyu signed a new alliance with Bismarck on behalf of the emperor, which included a plan to jointly build the navy of the two countries.

On the surface, the German navy only has a few ships, but in fact, the German navy will be established in Japan.

Of course, Japan's infrastructure and resources are ultimately not as good as Germany's, so Germany will provide economic assistance to Japan.

This was the Alliance of the Two Emperors of Berlin.

After this, Austria and Italy will be added to form the Four Emperors Alliance.

After signing the alliance, Germany immediately selected a group of people internally to go to Japan. At the same time, its economic assistance to Japan was mainly to transport coal and iron.

Yagyu was busy discussing various details with Bismarck, while Emperor Meiji took Queen Mary and the Kaiser to get to know the German nobles.

For example, the King of Bavaria, the King of Saxony, the King of Württemberg, etc.

With Queen Mary helping him, Emperor Meiji was barely recognized by a group of German nobles.

King Ludwig II of Bavaria was not interested in Emperor Meiji, mainly because Yagyu was too famous.

Since last month, Yagyu's reputation has spread across Europe, especially in Germany, where major newspapers have reported on Yagyu's experience.

Yagyu's ups and downs life gave him great inspiration.

Ludwig II was known as the "Fairytale King", "Swan King", and "Mad King Ludwig" because of his fanatical pursuit of art.

Ludwig II asked directly: "Dear Majesty Muruhito, I would like to know where Mr. Yagyu is? I want to have a good chat with him."

Emperor Meiji quickly replied: "Mr. Ludwig, I'm sorry, my father-in-law is busy, so he couldn't come to the ball."

"That's such a pity. I came here specifically for him." Ludwig II frowned with a look of disappointment.

He chattered endlessly and continued: "Mr. Yagyu's experience is really wonderful, I want to know the specific story, so that it can inspire me.

This time, I invited Wagner over. With him here, we will definitely be able to create a classic song! "

Emperor Meiji was not very familiar with Ludwig II, but seeing how excited he was, he still cooperated and said, "I will tell your father-in-law about your wishes."

"Father? Why do you think he is your father?"

Only then did Ludwig II realize that Emperor Meiji called Yagyu something different.

"Are your prime ministers all the emperor's father?"

Emperor Meiji was a little embarrassed, and he quickly explained: "Of course not, this is mainly because I was very young when I ascended the throne, the country was in turmoil, and my father-in-law presided over the government and carried out reforms when he was the late emperor.

Therefore, when the late emperor passed away, he asked his prime minister to assist me in governing Japan, and I should treat him as a father and trust my prime minister. "

Although Ludwig II didn't understand much, he was still envious of the relationship between Emperor Meiji and Yagyu.

The reason why Ludwig II became like this is inseparable from his childhood experience. In short, this person's childhood was somewhat miserable.

Seeing that the two of them had nothing to talk about, Queen Mary hurriedly chatted: "Brother Ludwig, I discovered Japanese art, and I think it has new inspiration for you."

Ludwig II immediately looked at Emperor Meiji.

Emperor Meiji immediately expressed his intention to paint an ukiyo-e.

Ludwig II also decided to give him some face. The reason for this was because Queen Mary was related to him.

First of all, his mother, Princess Marie, was the youngest daughter of Prince William of Prussia and Princess Maria of Hesse-Humboldt, while Princess Marie's sister, Princess Elisabeth, was the mother of King Dewig IV of Hesse and the Rhine.

Ludwig IV was the son of Queen Marie's uncle, Prince Charles.

So from this relationship theory, Queen Mary is a relative of Ludwig II. In other words, Emperor Meiji became Ludwig II's brother-in-law.

Therefore, for the sake of Queen Mary, Ludwig II had to give Emperor Meiji some dignity.

However, Emperor Meiji's ukiyo-e paintings were not bad, after all, he practiced hard every day.

Ludwig II looked at the ukiyo-e paintings painted by Emperor Meiji, as if he had discovered a new world, and said with joy: "Oh, this is really an amazing painting. Look at this expression, it is so exciting!"

"Your Majesty Mu Ren, I didn't expect you to have such achievements in art. It's really great. I have to have a good discussion with you about this painting!"

Ludwig II's praise made Emperor Meiji relax instantly, and he thought of what Yagyu had said to him before.

"Your Majesty, your accomplishments in Ukiyo-e are no less than those of those masters. When you get to Europe, you can show off your Ukiyo-e to your heart's content and conquer the Europeans! I believe you can do it!"

Emperor Meiji looked at the excited Ludwig II and secretly said in his heart: Father, I did it!

He puffed up his chest and talked about the ukiyo-e he painted. The other nobles saw that Ludwig II, a difficult and pretentious person, could communicate so happily with the Japanese emperor. They all left curiously. passed.

Then they saw Ukiyo-e, which was similar in style to Impressionism. They had never seen such a more exaggerated picture. It was extremely impactful and attracted their attention in an instant.

"The image caught my attention immediately."

"Look at that, that ghost looks so scary!"

"Oh, it's really scary. My heart trembles just by looking at it."

A busty lady patted her chest.

Emperor Meiji became even more excited when he looked at the gathering of nobles, and his voice unconsciously became louder enough for everyone to hear.

"Everyone, this is our country's art, and its name is Ukiyo-e!"

The name Ukiyo-e was proposed by Yagyu. In fact, there is no unified name for this kind of painting, but Yagyu directly decided on the name Ukiyo-e.

"What a great name!"

"A very nice name!"

"It's so gorgeous in the world, it's so fitting, it's such an exquisite work of art!"

Originally, everyone thought that although Japan had become stronger, it was just a barbaric country that had just learned a few things. However, they did not expect that Japan was actually a country with art. They took a high look at Japan in their hearts.

After the party, Emperor Meiji returned to the mansion and saw Yagyu. He stepped forward with excitement and said, "My dear father, as you expected, after I showed the ukiyo-e to King Ludwig II of Bavaria, He liked it immediately.

Later, other nobles present also marveled at our ukiyo-e! Hahaha, I think Ukiyo-e will become popular in Europe, which is really exciting! "

Of course Yagyu knew this, so he let Queen Mary see Ukiyo-e and fall in love with it. As long as Queen Mary liked it, the Emperor would naturally get in touch with it.

Now that Emperor Meiji has taken the lead in promoting Ukiyo-e, Europeans who were shocked by Ukiyo-e will definitely take a high look at Japan.

This time, he can promote other Japanese specialties.

Such as silk, such as lacquerware.

Although the silk in the Central Plains has been famous for a long time, it was gradually surpassed by Japan in the Qing Dynasty.

Today, the only area where the Qing Dynasty still maintains its leading position is porcelain.

Japan is not a rival in porcelain, but its research in lacquerware has made Japanese lacquerware world-famous.

He decided to bundle lacquerware with silk and ukiyo-e paintings and sell them.

Yagyu immediately asked someone to bring some gifts and said, "Your Majesty, this is a good thing. I will ask your Majesty to send these things out as gifts."

The things Yagyu gave to Emperor Meiji were Japanese silk clothing and lacquerware with Ukiyo-e elements.

These items all have Ukiyo-e pictures on them, which are works he invited Ukiyo-e masters to paint.

Emperor Meiji immediately accepted the gifts and then discussed with Queen Mary how to send them out.

When the gifts are sent out, a strong wind of Ukiyo-e will soon set off in the European continent, and Japan will be able to ride on the wind and fly up to 90,000 miles!

(End of this chapter)