Quantum theory will not be accepted lightly, because once quantum theory is established, Maxwell's classical theory will bear the brunt of being put in question, and I am afraid that no one will dare to do such a thing in this era, except Wang Yi himself. More importantly, quantum theory is still only conjecture, and there is no real evidence to prove the existence of quantum. As a result, Wang Yi's paper on quanta was not published outside the industrial chamber, only the first "Phlogiston in Physics-Aether" was transmitted to Europe and the Americas, but for the reaction of the two places, all the people in the industrial chamber were curious, how could it be so quiet. Wang Yi understood that I was afraid that a storm was brewing, and physicists were either contemptuous or doing verifying the facts, and it would not be long before an uproar would come.

Li Hongzhang was discussing with Zhou Fu about the food and salary of the Beiyang Naval Division, and then discussed Zuo Zongtang's actions in Xinjiang.

"I heard that Lord Zuo wants to use troops in Xinjiang again?" Zhou Fu suddenly mentioned.

Li Hongzhang sat in his seat and nodded slightly, "Wushan, why did you mention this matter?" ”

"Oh, that's the case, everyone knows that Lord Zuo is using troops in Xinjiang, relying on the money raised behind Hu Xueyan, but recently I heard that this Hu Xueyan met a friend."

"Friends?" Li Hongzhang was puzzled, and said in his heart that Hu Xueyan knew friends, what does it have to do with us, but he also knew Zhou Fu's temperament, so naturally he would not mention useless people.

"This person is the manager of Dashang Bank in Shanghai, Ding Xiaoyu."

"Ding Xiaoyu of Dashang Bank?" Li Hongzhang really hasn't heard of it. "Which country's bank is this?"

Zhou Fu smiled and said: "My lord, this Dashang Bank is our bank in Qingguo, but his real name should be called Dashang Yinlu, but there are branches in Shanghai and Guangzhou, and it is estimated that he changed his name for the sake of foreign energy." ”

Li Hongzhang of the silver furnace industry knows, "Yingkou's? ”

Zhou Fu nodded, and then whispered: "As the adults said, the head office of this big merchant silver furnace is indeed in Yingkou, and according to the investigation of his subordinates, this big merchant is not simple. The silver furnace is just one of the industries. ”

"Oh? And so on? ”

According to the locals of Yingkou, Dashang Silver Furnace is actually just a branch of Dashang Group, and the rest are Dashang Iron and Steel Plant, Dashang Tianlai Company, Dashang Glass Optics, Dashang Heavy Industry, Dashang Light Industry, Dashang Culture, Dashang Coal, Dashang Seals, Dashang Electric, Dashang Shipbuilding...... And the most famous of them, which is even admired by foreigners, is the Dashang Industrial Laboratory, which is said to be able to hold the bull's ear of today's science. ”

Li Hongzhang was taken aback by these words, now he is the governor of Zhili, and he is also a close neighbor of Fengtian......

"Dashang Group? I don't know who is behind this......"

"My subordinates also checked, but I only knew that this person's name was Wang Yi, and his origin was mysterious, and the outside world knew very little. However, this person is enthusiastic about foreign affairs, and he is also very helpful to the Mukden place. ”

Wang Yi, Li Hongzhang felt that he seemed to have heard this name, but he couldn't remember where he had heard it.

"Wu Shan mentioned this person today, I don't know why?"

"My lord, there are two main points mentioned by the subordinates, the first is that the Dashang Iron and Steel Plant itself can produce steel that is not inferior to the foreigners, and the price is only eighty percent of the price of the foreigners, if the freight is removed, it is cheaper. Our Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau has stopped shipbuilding for a while, and the main reason for this is that the Qingliu in the imperial court accuses us of the high price of our ships. If we can buy the steel of the big merchants, then the price of our ship's ship can be greatly reduced, so that there will be no worries about sales. ”

Hearing Zhou Fu say this, Li Hongzhang pondered for a moment, but did not say anything.

"And what about the second point?"

"The second point is to find big businessmen to cooperate in the development of Kaiping Coal Mine!"

"Oh?" Li Hongzhang really didn't think that Zhou Fu would have such a mention. "Why?"

In September of the second year of Guangxu, that is, in 1876, Li Hongzhang sent Tang Tingshu, the general office of the steamship China Merchants Bureau, to investigate the Kaiping area of Tangshan, and found that there were rich minerals here, and the quality was excellent, Li Hongzhang heard about it in August 1877 and sent Tang Tingshu to prepare, and drafted the "Articles of Association of the Zhili Kaiping Mining Bureau" to attract investment and raise shares.

"My lord, first, there is silver in this big merchant silver furnace! Rather than putting it in their place, it is better for us to use it, and after all, the big merchants are the big merchants of the Qing Dynasty, and it is always easier to deal with them than foreigners. ”

The subtext of this is that it is easy to clean up, or easy to pay the bills. Li Hongzhang nodded.

"Second, I heard that the coal mining machinery and equipment opened by the big businessmen in Fushun can be produced by themselves!"

"Is that so?" This surprised Li Hongzhang.

Zhou Fu smiled and said: "Although the performance of the machinery may not be as good as that of foreigners, the price is really much cheaper." ”

"Let me think about it." Li Hongzhang did not give a direct answer.

Speaking of China Merchants Steamship, it is one of the few relatively successful Western-style enterprises. Without Wang Yi's involvement, Naide and Charlie Fama's Qichang Foreign Company would have become the property of China Merchants in 1876. As soon as the steamship China Merchants Bureau was established, the foreigners' Swire, Jardine Matheson and Qichang three steamship companies formed a price alliance to squeeze the steamship China Merchants Bureau with low freight rates. Li Hongzhang took the initiative of borrowing official funds, allocating more grain and transporting official goods, and counterattacked, so that the China Merchants Bureau, which was originally losing money, turned its losses into profits. As a result, Qichang was run on and bankrupt, and Swire and Jardine Matheson had to sign three contracts with China Merchants in 1877, 1883, and 1889. Chinese and foreign shipping companies jointly negotiated a unified price on various waterways, determined the water foot income and cargo supply distribution plan, and also broke the monopoly of foreign countries in China's shipping industry. However, because of Wang Yi's rebirth, Qichang has become a holding subsidiary of Dashang, mainly engaged in various businesses under Dashang and Tai'an Grain and Oil, and did not hook up with Swire and Jardine to squeeze China Merchants, which can be regarded as an indirect help. Of course, this favor continues, and the steamship China Merchants Bureau has lost its former scale.

Li Hongzhang was very moved by this matter, and later asked the opinions of other people under him, and everyone also recognized it, but Tang Tingshu, the general office of the China Merchants Bureau, was a little uneasy. After all, he will be in charge of the Kaiping Mining Bureau in the future, and if there is any trouble, he will also be implicated, so he proposed to Li Hongzhang and personally went to Yingkou to see the actual situation of the big businessmen.

Tang Tingshu, when the word was built, called Jingxing, also known as Jingxin, was a native of Tangjia Village, Xiangshan County, Guangdong Province (now Tangjiawan Town, Zhuhai). Originally, he was the comprador of Jardine Matheson, but later joined the steamship China Merchants Bureau and became the general office, and in 1876, he was entrusted by Li Hongzhang to prepare for the Kaiping Coal Mine. Someone once commented: "Tang, Xu's reputation is famous, not because of the weight gain in Beiyang." Tang Zhi is extremely tenacious, especially not comparable to those who later appeared to be Westerners. It can be seen that this person is indeed unique in doing business and engaging in foreign affairs.

Wang Yi's company received a call from Li Yuzhen, general manager of Yingkou Dashang Silver Furnace.

"Chairman, we recently contacted us at China Merchants Steamship in Shanghai, hoping to cooperate with us on some projects, what do you mean?"

"Li Hongzhang's steamship China Merchants Bureau?"

"That's right!"

"Who's coming?"

"I heard that it is Tang Tingshu, the general office of China Merchants Bureau, and Xu Run, the general office of the China Merchants Bureau."

Wang Yi listened one by one, good fellow, two gods!

Tang Tingshu needless to say, although Xu Run is only able to do it in the steamship China Merchants Bureau, but if you talk about prestige, you are not under Tang Tingshu at all, he is the king of tea in modern China, the king of real estate, the earliest insurance company in China, and his subordinates have also invested in many minerals.

"Why did you suddenly come into contact with us?" Wang Yi thought for a moment before asking.

"I heard Ding Xiaoyu of the Shanghai branch say that this matter has something to do with Zhou Fu and Zhou Wushan, the first staff member of Li Hongzhang." Li Yuzhen replied.

"They don't just come here to talk, do they?"

Li Yuzhen was also a little puzzled: "I don't know the specifics, but I heard that it was for the Kaiping Mining Bureau." ”

"Kaiping Mining Bureau?" Wang Yi had an understanding of it, and he was a little sure in his heart. "If you're coming, come on! You go and entertain them, and first inquire about their purpose. ”

"Understood, Chairman."

Because he came to this era, Wang Yi has learned about some of the most famous figures of this era. Of course, Li Hongzhang is no exception, if someone mentioned Tang Tingshu and Xu Run to Wang Yi before, it is estimated that they have never heard of it at all.

However, when these two arrived, Wang Yi only paid a little attention, because he had more important things to do now.

Industrial real yàn room, mechanical department attached shed.

"Mr. Wang, you're here." A German man in his forties greeted him respectfully.

The king nodded a little.

"How's Yannick preparing?"

"One qiē ready!"

"Let's get started!"

Yannick is the head of the Dashang Machine Tool Project, and his main research projects are electric machine tools and the application of the new material tungsten steel in machine tools. Wang Yi attaches great importance to machine tools, and more than half of the researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering are engaged in related research. However, due to the variety of machine tools, it seems that there are still some people who are short of manpower.

Today, Wang Yi is looking at four new pieces of equipment, electric car lathe, planer, milling machine and boring machine.

After the harsh sound, the effect of the real yàn far exceeded Wang Yi's expectations, and the researchers also cheered, which was the result of their hard work.

"The joint use of the chief engineer, electric machine tools and tungsten steel has greatly improved the machining accuracy of our four machine tools compared with the expired steam machine tools."

"You're all doing a great job!" Wang Yi was also very happy. "Don't worry, tomorrow I will let the people of Dashang Heavy Industry and Dashang Light Industry come over, and your research will be rewarded with shares of the two companies."

Everyone cheered, even the stern Yannick smiled pleasantly, but he was a little sad.

"Sir, may I make a request from you?"

Wang Yi was stunned and said, "Please speak." ”

"So, my wife and children are still in Karlsruhe, sir, can I take them to Qingguo?"

"Of course you can, why not?" Wang Yi was puzzled.

"I wanted to take them over, but Dashang didn't accept our children's schools, which was too inconvenient for us."

"What do you mean, Yannick?"

"Can you let him enter the affiliated primary school, anyway, I heard that the children in it are learning Chinese, English and German."