The twenty-fourth year of Guangxu, 1898 AD, is destined to be a year that will be recorded in history. After more than six years of investment in higher education and scientific research funds of billions of taels of silver, every batch of fruits finally bloomed in this year. In Beijing, in Shanghai, in Jiangning, in Guangzhou, in Wuhan, in Tianjin, etc., all places, institutions, factories, etc., all kinds of business conferences were held in this year.

From small pens to large clothing, even the design of a small carton has made European and American businessmen flock to it, they see the profits contained in it, while desperately placing orders, while sincerely sighing that China is really a country with a profound heritage, but this beautiful shape is not what they can come up with. The patent departments of European and American countries seem to have become specially opened for Chinese in these places, and there are countless patent applications from China every month, although they are some small inventions in life, but the huge number makes the patent departments of various countries tired enough.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Qing Dynasty was very busy, so busy that when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saw the foreigners, it was like owing them two dollars. Just because these are small inventions and small improvements, they are also easy to be counterfeited and plagiarized, so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has to be busy negotiating with ministers of various countries all day long, and the major Qing diplomatic missions abroad have been running all day long, and the courts of various countries have asked governments to effectively enforce patent laws to protect the interests of businessmen from various countries. It is not only Chinese officials and businessmen who are busy because of piracy and counterfeiting, but also ministers and consuls of various countries in China. Perhaps because foreigners look down on backward Oriental countries, it is always difficult for Chinese businessmen to enter the European and American markets, but since the emperor asked the ministers of various countries in China to serve as the general distributor of fountain pens in various countries and open the sales of fountain pens, businessmen from all over the world began to ask consuls from all over the world. This kind of piracy and counterfeiting not only harms the interests of Chinese businessmen, but also harms the interests of public servants in China, so a vigorous anti-piracy crackdown has been launched around the world.

"What is an invention? What is Creation? In the end, it's a new gadget made up by a group of people who have enough to eat to make their lives easier. In the final analysis, laziness makes society progress, and hard work stops the world! "Every afternoon, if there is nothing important to deal with, it is the time for the emperor and the ministers to chat, and they can get acquainted with each other's habits in the braggadocio of the sea and the sky, because Guangxu thinks that small talk is a good way for the superiors and subordinates to communicate and understand. So once a week in the afternoon, there is a chat that does not make any records and has no topic. As long as it's okay, anyone can participate. Even one of the guards had a motivational debate about the authenticity of the events recorded in the Book of Mountains and Seas. And this time when chatting with the ministers, Guangxu expressed his opinion. As a result, as soon as Guangxu's words came out, he was unanimously opposed by the ministers.

"Industriousness is the virtue of the Chinese nation, and the world of lazy people will die soon." Someone retorted dismissively. Some people even took out what the emperor himself had said as a footnote: The emperor also said it. The Chinese nation is the most industrious nation in the world, and it is precisely because of hard work that it has created the most brilliant Ming in the world.

"Lazy to go, so we made cars and trains. I was too lazy to calculate every time, so we invented the number formula. The lazy ones went to kill one by one, so we invented the machine gun. The most obvious example is the cutting of a tree from a mountain. Then I rolled down the hill with a push, didn't I resist because I was lazy! ”

When he spoke, Guangxu smiled indifferently, which made many ministers begin to criticize and write, although no one dared to say how the emperor was, but there were still people who dared to say how the emperor's words were. However, most of the people who said these words were the squires of various ministries and the like of books, but the important ministers of each ministry were dumb at the same time, and which one of them could sit in these positions was not a human spirit. If it is a mythological story, historical people and the like will argue with the emperor for two days, but today they found that the emperor always had something else when he said this, and it was better to speak less when he did not confirm the meaning of the emperor's words. so as not to touch the emperor's scales.

Guangxu saw that no one had a different opinion, so he waved his hand to stop everyone's speech: "The speed of the car is fast, and it can pull several people at a time, not to mention the train, their appearance improves the efficiency of traffic." In the same way, the formula improves the efficiency of the calculation, the machine gun improves the killing efficiency, and the rolling of the tree down the hill does not allow the people who would have gone to fight the tree to have more time to cut down the tree, which also improves the efficiency of cutting down the tree. At the end of the day, invention is a way of using tools to make something more efficient. ”

"Technology makes life easier. That's what the advertising slogan of the royal company means! Yan Fu, the governor of Liangjiang, who was vying for graduates in the lobby, said: "Then what efficiency does the emperor's newly opened chicken fast food restaurant improve by sandwiching the roasted chicken in two slices of bread?" ”

"It's made me more efficient. You see, it takes five minutes to copy a dish, and I have a good idea. You can sell the pre-roasted meat in the bread, and I can sell two more if it is convenient for everyone to eat. Of course, the lazy theory mentioned above is just a joke, simplifying the tedious steps in the current stage of work and standardizing messy things. Let's have more time to rest and brag. Therefore, laziness itself is not wrong, it is precisely because we hope that the body can be lazy, so we must be more diligent in our thinking, to think and improve the existing working methods or tools, and to exchange our diligent thoughts for our physical laziness. If you are lazy in your thoughts, that's wrong. Guangxu finished speaking. The ministers wiped their sweat, what does the emperor mean by this today?

A very unhappy voice came from the side: "It is said that the sky does not compete with the people." Your Majesty, the appearance of your fast food restaurant can make many small shops on the street useless. ”

"Cut, the heavens do not compete with the people for profit, what is said is that the heavens must not use the rights of the heavens to compete with the people. The shops I open are all serious businesses, and they don't have to compete with me. I didn't use my power to interfere with normal business competition, and the Nanyang Chinese didn't create a speed flow to compete with my Shunfeng logistics, didn't I interfere? If they can defeat my tailwind logistics through normal business competition, I will willingly withdraw from the logistics industry. Speaking of this, Guangxu suddenly stopped: "No, no, I'm talking about what is invention and creation, and I was abducted by you again, and now I turn back to the topic." Let's go ahead and say that the papermaking technology among the four major inventions was invented by Cai Lun, a eunuch in the Eastern Han Dynasty; In the "Sun Zhenren Danjing", the great pharmacist of the Tang Dynasty, Sun Simiao, recorded the world's earliest gunpowder formula: the sulfur ambush fire method of burning sulfur saltpeter soaphorn together; In the Northern Song Dynasty, Zeng Gongliang's "General Essentials of the Martial Arts" mentioned that the "guide fish" was used to help identify the direction when marching; Although Bi Sheng, who invented movable type printing, was only a commoner, he was also a reader, and as a reader, he naturally had a bit of wealth. Speaking of now, you look at the number of patents that my country has applied for at home and abroad this year. It's not all done by students or research institutes in various places. The common ground these people have is that they don't worry about food and clothing, and they have enough money to make sure that their experiments can fail multiple times. ”

Of course, we must first affirm that these inventions themselves are inspired by life, and that more ordinary people must worry about food and clothing tomorrow. And there is not enough knowledge to summarize and generalize. Therefore, it is necessary for idlers like us, who are full of food and have nothing to do, to turn the inspiration of ordinary people's lives into reality through a systematic and planned way. Of course, this also means profit and wealth. However, a country does not rely on just a few knowledgeable people to come in and summarize the life inspiration of these hundreds of millions of people. And that's why we want to expand education, and make ordinary people richer by setting up factories and other things, because they are the basis of these inventions of life. ”

"Our China has a history of 5,000 years, but there are only four life-changing inventions. Why? Because the majority of ordinary surnames rarely have a worry-free time for food and clothing, looking at the time when the four great inventions were produced, they were all when a dynasty was most powerful and prosperous, and it was also the time when the most surnames rarely worried about food and clothing. Only when they have the time, energy and money to do what they are interested in can they really create inventions, otherwise they are just working behind closed doors. We have 40,000 people in the Qing Dynasty, not to mention one in 10,000. Even if there is one practical invention in 10,000 a year, it is enough to make China stand proudly at the top of the world. However, if the surname is worried about food, clothing, housing and transportation, and is worried that the future life is not guaranteed, how can there be any fart energy to do any invention. Therefore, let every surname have a fixed place to live without worry, let them have money in their pockets, let them have literacy and rich knowledge, and this is the most basic position of those of us as officials. ”

"The emperor is sage, but there are 40,000 people in the Qing Dynasty-"

"Hey. What do you mean, did I say I was going to do it right away? It is unrealistic to achieve it in one year, it is impossible to achieve it in ten years, and even our generation cannot achieve this goal. But what about a year later? Not for another two years. As long as this national policy is firmly implemented, as long as no one makes trouble, there will always be a day when it can be realized. Of course, we also need to be clear about how much effort a person will spend from the idea of improving and innovating tools to the completion of the revision, which is why the patent law of foreigners is needed to protect the inventor from making a profit on his invention. Otherwise, if you go to great lengths to make inventions for others to make money, then who will have the heart to make any inventions. Guangxu suddenly paused: "Speaking of this, I want to ask, paper pumping is my invention and I have also reported an open patent, I heard that merchants around the country have bought hundreds of thousands of boxes, why I didn't get my patent dividends." Is it the merchant who dares not to give me the money he owes, or is it embezzled? ”

There are two types of patents in China, one is a closed patent, which can only be used with the authorization of the inventor. The other is the open patent mentioned by Guangxu, this kind of patent can ask the patent office for the patent right for production and manufacturing as long as you want, but you need to pay the fee specified by the patentee. For example, the extractive carton invented by Guangxu is an open patent (of course, limited to Chinese use), and Guangxu specifies that a patent fee of one cent must be paid for each box sold, and the monthly settlement will be paid. More than two months have passed, and the total sales volume of various localities, including exports, is 200,000 boxes.

Hearing the emperor's question, all the ministers' eyes popped out. Li Hongzhang muttered and asked, "The emperor said so much today, just for these two yuan?" ”

"Mosquito legs are also meat, why don't you want the money of Zhengda."

This chat broke up unhappily because of the emperor's more than two yuan. No merchant dares to owe the emperor money and not give it, the patent fee has been paid to the emperor's personal account in the Daqing Bank, and the imperial assets managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs cannot control the emperor's personal account, so it is normal for Guangxu not to know. The reason for the unhappy parting is that the ministers will not let go of the emperor even this little profit.

Now looking at the penny per box is of course a small profit, but Guangxu knows that the streets will be full of this kind of paper in the future, and the daily consumption of billions of people in the country will add up to a daily number. A group of ministers who have no long-term vision still insist that the heavens should benefit the people and set an example for the world. You know how big you are, you know a fart. Guangxu thought with great resentment in his heart.

"The emperor was refuted again today?" Princess Bai Fumei, who has been studying in the lobby for half a year, is already relatively fluent in Chinese, and she also teaches Japanese courses in the hall. I didn't have classes to rest at home today, and when I saw the emperor come back, I served a glass of ice water to Guangxu, who was still angry at Gangmen.

"Who's to say it's not. A group of bastards-" On a hot day, a glass of ice water went down, and Guangxu was suddenly refreshed.

"Isn't this exactly what the emperor wants?" Yang Zao'er came downstairs with her daughter in her arms, looked at the emperor with a strange look, and then said: "If the emperor uses a submissive minister, he will dismiss the minister who refutes the emperor." Presumably, that wouldn't have happened. ”

"You can see it-" Guangxu stepped forward to see his daughter, only to see Zhengxiang sleeping with her eyes closed. Yang Zao'er stretched out her daughter but was rejected by Guangxu.

"This girl doesn't match the old girl, as long as I hug her, she will cry. Put the girl down, sit down and tell me what you see? I also need to adjust my employment strategy. ”

"Even the concubines have seen it, and presumably the ministers of the court have also seen it. It's strange to be a concubine. Why don't the emperors who have argued the most harmful seem to look down on it? ”

"What can be the reason, it is because they quote the scriptures and scriptures, and they are justified. If you think about it, there is always no fixed topic for my chats with ministers, and it is easier to go off topic while talking. From the grotesque mountains and seas to local customs at home and abroad, although most of them are ethereal, they are always recorded in books or passed down by word of mouth. And in order to cite the scriptures in such a discourse, how many books do you need to read, how many sources do you need to find, and do you still have time to care about work after reading these many books? It is said that what is good at the top will be followed by the following, and there is nothing wrong with watching some strange theories to meet the good. But when you look at these strange theories, if you have some thoughts, you will pay attention to the geographical people of the places you are looking at. But what does this mean that these people who quote scriptures have no understanding of the people of all regions today? It shows that these are people who are trying to take advantage of the opportunity to get in, and these people are just to be amused if they have nothing to do, and it must be a bad thing to really use these people. In fact, not only I think so, but Li Xiang also means so. ”

"The emperor seems to be particularly interested in these strange theories?"

"That's right, how mysterious the ancient legends are, the mysterious and powerful formations of superpowered battles, accompanied by complete plots. Then you think about the ancient people who were poor in knowledge and narrow in vision. How did they write these stories, or did they actually see something like that. It is impossible to fabricate a complete mythological story that has nothing to do with real life out of thin air, and since it is not made up out of thin air, then these stories are about alien visitors or relics of ancient times. This conjecture alone is enough to make people think about it and make it fascinating. ”

"Since the emperor likes these stories so much, why don't you transfer all these ministers to the Ministry of Education and let the concubines compile them into a book?"

"Well, this one can have it. It seems that there is always some benefit to being an emperor. Organize and record them, and if there are any conjectures, make a separate book. These are then passed on to future generations. Tell them that they live in a country with a glorious past, but also that this country has countless fascinating and magical stories. We also want to share these stories with our children, so that they can grow up curious about these glorious pasts and amazing stories from an early age. Let these curiosities encourage them to pursue and explore the truth of these mysterious stories as they lead the nation into a stronger future. ”

"Your Majesty, can the concubine also want to hear it?"

"Of course, you can go if you have time. When I marry such a beautiful wife and concubine, I always have to pull it out to show off, otherwise people will think that I have married an ugly girl and dare not take it out to meet people. I hope that from my point on, the concubines in the palace should no longer be canaries locked up in the palace, and I hope that you can go out more to take a look, and take your children out to see in the future, so that the future emperor will only grow up in this small palace wall and not know the world. Although it is good for a girl to be quiet, she cannot be a weak girl who is not virtuous, only with richer knowledge and knowledge can she really make a good husband and teach a better child. As for boys, they should jump between the mountains, gallop in the fields, make the tide in the sea, shuttle in the artillery, be able to cultivate the fields with the old farmers in the countryside, drill machine tools with technicians in factories, and discuss the world with scholars in temples. (To be continued.) )