On March 21, 1857, a major earthquake struck Edo. Unlike the high-intensity and low-severity earthquake that struck California in January, this time the disaster caused enormous damage to the residents of Edo Castle. Thousands of houses that were not able to withstand earthquakes were destroyed directly by the seismic waves, and even more seriously, the wooden houses of Edo were destroyed by fire. The kamikaze had helped the Japanese defend themselves against two Mongol invasions, but the wind god was the protector of the Japanese illusion, and this time, the wind god helped to destroy the whole of Edo, and the 60 mph winds caused the fire to sweep through the whole of Edo, and the completely saturated firefighters did not have the slightest ability to resist nature, because the ensuing tsunami surrounded Edo Castle, which was really like a seamless Edo massacre with the heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals.

The whole city of Edo fell in the midst of the Great Fire, which shook the whole world, because it was the first global supernatural disaster in the BBC's first few months of existence, and the Reuters equipment was already able to invite the victims of the Great Edo Earthquake to a makeshift recording studio to tell the story of the disaster, and the desperate voices of the elderly, women and children made the whole of Europe sympathetic to the plight of the Japanese.

As the worst of the times passed, the number of people affected became clearer, with an estimated death toll of more than 100,000 and a total population of just over 500,000.

When the BBC connected the world, some social rescue organizations, which had been operating only in Europe, began to propose a transoceanic rescue mission to the Far East. No one had ever been to the Far East to carry out disaster relief activities, so everyone wanted the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, who had recently been to Japan, to organize it, and he had always had a reputation for charity.

In response to the call of the disaster relief organization, Downing announced that he would take this opportunity to initiate the establishment of the "International Natural Disaster Relief Organization", directly contact the leader of the founding faction of Japan, Ii Naobi, and be responsible for all the logistics and related expenses of the volunteers' food and accommodation for the operation, and send the materials donated by charitable organizations in rich European countries to the Far East.

Downing donated 10,000 sets of inflatable lifeboats made in his factory as relief tents, so much so that later the logo design of an international natural disaster relief organization used the pattern of a lifeboat, with the five initials of the international natural disaster relief organization. This is very good, it can be used for shipwrecks, fires, and earthquakes. The emblem of the Red Cross is, of course, unusable, because the Red Cross also represents Christianity, which Downing cannot accept. Nowadays, charitable organizations are mainly church organizations, but this is just an old idea, who says that atheists don't do charity? Atheists, because reason is supreme, are more reliable than anyone else in their work.

Do you think that atheists don't wear makeup when the church amasses wealth through "heaven is waiting for you", often dedicates a small portion to charity to show its righteousness and love, and dresses itself up like an angel? The doctrines of religion are irreconcilable, because dogma is dead, and breaking through doctrine requires something that will not be done unless it is absolutely necessary, while atheists have no obstacle in this regard, they are all brothers and sisters who have evolved from the same species, and the difference is only in intimacy. The great love of religion is nothing more than love for one's own parishioners, and there is no such distinction in the dictionary of atheists, and atheistic theories do not discriminate whether you believe in them or not.

As for who is richer and more capable of charity, hehe, hey, you see!

While the church triumphantly announced how much it had donated, Downing kept doing what the church would never be able to do—researching earthquake prevention theories and measures. First of all, it is necessary to understand the cause of the earthquake and completely abandon nonsense such as the evil god and the land god. He founded the International Institute for Natural Disasters in London, which was well funded, and recently focused on earthquake and volcano research, collecting earthquake records through the Reuters global network, outlining earthquake-prone zones, and combining them with the theory of continental drift to draw seismic zones. Data and theory complement each other, and the first is to find the Pacific Earthquake Volcanic Zone, which is the site of more than 90% of the world's earthquakes, and is also an area related to the frequent earthquakes in Japan.

At present, Downing has only collected very crude data, but it has basically seen the scientific nature of the continental plate theory in explaining the seismic zone, which has greatly encouraged geologists around the world. Reuters' "all-purpose staff" is not professional enough, and the next step is to work with geology institutions around the world to dig deeper into the data.

While the priests of the Church were praying and blessing every day in pro-Christian newspapers, geologists from all over the world, with the financial support of Downing, convened seminars again and again to study ways of sharing geological data and collaborating on research internationally.

After more than a month of discussion, geologists have reached a consensus that the continental plate theory is by far the most powerful theory to explain earthquakes, and even scientists who have doubts for the time being believe that this theory can be used as the main body to explain the causes of earthquakes for the time being, and then revise them after the subsequent data are available.

The Global Earthquake Data Collection and Monitoring Network has also created a large number of jobs, with many professionals funded by the International Institute for Natural Disasters (IFRA) travelling to countries around the world to gather intelligence. The International Conference is also developing a scale standard for measuring the intensity of earthquakes, laying the groundwork for more accurate classification of earthquakes in the future.

When scientists make new achievements under Downing's organization, the prayers of the Christian newspapers become an interesting and stark contrast, giving the impression to the minds of the masses that the church has nothing but prayer.

Downing's proposal for a very forward-looking earthquake early warning plan is even more impressive. Earthquake prediction is of course impossible, but early warning when an earthquake occurs is possible. Because the propagation of seismic waves is much slower than the propagation of radio waves, when the instrument detects the occurrence of an earthquake, the center and intensity of the earthquake can be calculated through a special simulation computer, and the news of the coming earthquake can be transmitted to the critical departments through radio waves from seconds to tens of seconds in advance. The critical sectors here are, first and foremost, public services that are vulnerable to damage in an earthquake, such as gas, electricity, and trains. In a matter of seconds, these potentially dangerous devices can be turned off early, effectively reducing the occurrence of fire, electric shock, and derailment accidents. The early warning to the public is also meaningful, imagine a group of children are in class, and a piercing warning of tens of seconds in advance can make them run to the open area, saving many vulnerable lives. If the children are engaged in chemistry experiments, it is even more amazing, it is likely that the concentrated sulfuric acid in their hands will be splashed on their faces or their classmates in the earthquake.

Nearly half of Europe's countries are in seismic zones, but the high-risk zones are concentrated in the Italian Peninsula and Greece. The United States is mainly concentrated in California, Asia is the hardest hit area, not to mention Japan, Taiwan and Southeast Asia are also frequent areas. Most earthquakes in Chinese mainland occurred in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Gansu, and due to the current situation in China, coupled with the discrimination or prejudice of the Qing Dynasty against foreigners, such a thing as an earthquake cannot be considered for the time being. In addition, the earthquakes in California and Edo have attracted attention in the past few months, so earthquake research is now mainly focused on two places: California and Japan.

In particular, the earthquake research in Japan is mainly carried out, because the population here is relatively dense, far beyond California, and the International Institute of Natural Disasters sent a capable force to Edo with a large number of materials to establish the Edo Earthquake Research Institute, and the first task is to investigate the local resources and study earthquake-resistant buildings. As long as the buildings in Edo were slightly more earthquake-resistant and fire-resistant, they would not be as miserable as they are now. More than one-fifth of the citizens of the city have died, and the wonderful creatures that the green boat saw when it sailed have disappeared in an instant, isn't it embarrassing?

The use of steel structures is expected to play an important role in earthquake-resistant construction, and Downing has accelerated preparations for Nagasaki Steel, perhaps even faster than the steel company in Singapore. Because the Japanese business pioneers led by Yataro Iwasaki knew the importance of steel in industry, they risked their lives to do business, which can be described as day and night, and the eight-hour work system, eighteen hours a day, is no pressure for the Japanese who are now extremely hungry for industrial development.

Japan is short of mineral resources, but due to the invention of wind power, coal is not the most scarce resource, but iron ore is relatively scarce. There are iron ore mines in Tohoku and Korea, which are relatively close to Japan, but these places have not yet had the conditions for import and export trade, and are still in a state of semi-seclusion. Instead, chromite was discovered in the Philippines, which was controlled by the Spaniards, and became the main source of minerals for the "Nagasaki Steel Works".

At this time, the people who advised the shogunate, such as Naobi Ii and Shimazu Saibin, had already made up the idea of the Korean Peninsula in view of the lack of iron ore and other resources in Japan, and sincerely sought advice from Downing, who was quite friendly to Japan. At present, the national flag of North Korea reads "belonging to the Qing Dynasty", and it seems that the geopolitical contradictions between China and Japan have already appeared.

Downing, of course, vetoed their idea, but he had a headache with the contradiction between China and Japan, and one day, he suddenly had an idea that he had a brain-opening idea - to support Japan's purchase of Alaska, and if Alaska, which is vast and rich in natural resources, is in hand, it will greatly reduce the Japanese desire for expansion. The united and education-oriented Japanese are now showing the trend of becoming an industrial power, and I am afraid that the speed of the development of foreign affairs in the Qing Dynasty will once again surpass.

Now it is time to support Japan's purchase of Alaska, Tsar Nicholas I, who launched the Crimean War, launched a million "gray cattle" army, but was defeated by Britain, France, Ottomans, Sardinia and other countries whose numbers were far less than the Russian army, shame and indignation, committed suicide, leaving the trapped country to his son Alexander II, at this time he was afraid that the British Empire would take Alaska away from Russia, (now Canada bordering Alaska is firmly under the control of the British Empire, Its British Columbia colony is adjacent to Alaska). Alexander II also saw the need for further reform of serfdom from the lessons of the defeat, and it was a good time for the local tyrants to take action.

The Japanese, who had been very moved by the large amount of earthquake aid, were moved to tears when they found out that the Grand Duke of Luxembourg supported them to buy a large piece of land in Alaska, which was three times the size of Japan.

Of course, Downing will not do a loss-making business, and the loan offered by the Bank of Zurich will be a big deal at a low interest rate, and will set up the "Alaska Mining Company", in which he will take 40% of the shares and monopolize Alaska's mineral resources. Downing is responsible for contributing money, Japan is responsible for contributing manpower, and in the event of a territorial dispute in the future, Japan is also responsible for military operations. Of course, with Downing's influence in Britain, it was enough to persuade the British army not to expand into Alaska through Canada, and at present, all kinds of precious resources in Alaska have not surfaced, and there is not much international pressure to buy them.

Downing has a problem after buying Alaska by himself, he has no people, and the power of capital also needs the cooperation of the state, as far as the 200,000 people in Luxembourg are concerned, they may not be able to manage it, alas...... Rather than letting the United States buy the icing on the cake, it is better to control 40% of the mineral interests in its own hands.

This deal not only made up for Japan's lack of land and resources, but also showed them a clear way, how good it is to expand through commerce, the spirit of the samurai should not be too intense, learn from the once powerful Republic of Venice, they never care about the victory or defeat of the war and face, just want to get benefits, can be through commercial means is the best to use commercial means, the market is a great dispute mediator.

The money borrowed from the Bank of Zurich had to be repaid, so the Japanese did the bargaining, and they must have tried everything to get a good price. Except for the Bank of Zurich providing loans to Japan, Downing has hardly publicly stated why he supports Japan's purchase of Alaska, as if it is none of his business, and even said that he can consider a loan no matter which reliable country wants to buy Alaska.

Most of the last buyers belonged to Japan, because they were scarce in resources and land, and they had already seen a strong demand for minerals for industrial development.