"The disease of the poor people lies in the fact that outsiders take advantage of the industry made of their machine chemistry, and we want to change the declining trend, and we must quickly prepare for the sulfuric acid factory of our own machinery factory, and now the sulfuric acid industry has made a breakthrough with the power of Mr., which is gratifying and congratulating, and the whole country celebrates.

Although he has never been appointed by the state, he is also admired by the world, and he is indeed a model for my generation......

However, the strength of the country depends on the amount of iron it uses. Looking at the railways and ships of the commercial war, the various equipment of the workers, and the ploughing and digging of wells in the agricultural work, all of them are not iron, and the European war has been going on for many years, the iron production is extremely expensive, and the strong neighbors are seeking to seize the benefits of the Han Yeping, and we feel that coal and iron are the elements of the country's survival.

Sigh manpower is exhausted, beyond the reach of the power, the old spend half a lifetime of savings, but unfortunately there is no effect, and the cost is quite unreasonable, Shaohua has gone, the age is too old, the ambition of the steel industry in the past is gone.

Mr. Jinwen traveled to Germany for a study visit, and the response was hot, which greatly increased the face of the Chinese people. Mr. Pan took this opportunity to hire one or two German professional process technicians, with a little related technology, to help the domestic steel industry get rid of toddler......

Written in the Wuwu year of the lunar calendar in Changganli, Jinling. Old man of the grass temple. ”

On the dock leaving Germany, Cheng Nuo read the letter several times, not only did not have peace in his heart, but followed the waves of the sea, and his thoughts became more and more agitated.

Speaking of which, the protagonist of the letter is also a legendary figure, the second master of Qin in the realistic version of "Teahouse", he thought about doing things to save the country through industry during the Wuxu years, and he can be regarded as a gain in his life.

After the fall of the Manchu Qing Dynasty ushered in the Republic of China, the machinery factory founded by the old man expanded to the upstream industry of the steel industry, trying to solve the constraints of raw material bottlenecks through vertical integration strategy.

Even in this era, the high cost and high risk of investing in the steel industry will increase the burden on enterprises, and the old man will not hesitate to do so.

It is precisely because of this tenacity, with excellent technology, that the old man has won a large order for shipbuilding, and he is looking forward to ushering in a new level with the factory, so as to complete the positive cycle of technology-research and development.

Unfortunately, due to well-known reasons, the steel plate required by the machinery factory is not only expensive, but also unavailable, so it has to be purchased at a high price as a last resort, resulting in a huge loss.

In addition, the investment in the steel industry cycle is too long, in the short term to further aggravate the financial difficulties of the enterprise, resulting in the deterioration of the financial situation of the machinery factory, although the period through debt to raise funds, but unfortunately still failed after all, the factory was also taken away by the creditor British bank.

In the end, all the things that I have struggled for all my life have been lost, and like Second Master Qin, I have ended up with a situation where I have lost all my family wealth, which is embarrassing.

But even so, the old man still ordered newspapers on time, and after learning about the development of the chemical industry by the Academy of Sciences, he saw the shadow of his youth in Cheng Nuo's body, and his good impression became more and more accumulated, and he even began to inquire about Cheng Nuo's specific family situation, preparing to match the younger generations in the clan.

Recently, I learned that Cheng Nuo had made a small success in visiting Germany, thinking of Germany's best industrial strength and the pain of failure back then, the old man's heart that had been silent for a long time became restless again, and he had to write a letter to Cheng Nuo, so he had the content of the letter.

tells the story of the old man's life, and also tells the old man's last request.

It was not easy to send the letter from China to Germany, and there was no way to determine Cheng Nuo's location, so the process of sending the letter was very bumpy.

In the end, the letter was passed through the hands of the international students.

When he arrived in Cheng Nuo's hands, he was already on the way back.

"What's the matter, what do you say in your heart, I see that you are very stressed?"

Li Hua took the initiative to help Cheng Nuo carry the suitcase and looked at him with concern.

Cheng Nuo put the letter back in the envelope, and said in a gentle tone: "It's not a big deal, it's all the seniors in China who care about our juniors. ”

Li Hua nodded and put his heart down: "When I'm older, I can understand, just like before I left home, my grandmother always held my hand and didn't let go, telling me while shedding tears, I was young and ignorant, and I felt annoyed, but now that I'm older, I miss it strangely,

I haven't been back for a few years, and I don't know how the old man's health is. ”

Cheng Nuo patted Li Hua's shoulder and said kindly: "When you're done with this, let's go back and have a look." ”

Li Hua sighed: "Yes, it's time to go back." ”

"Woo~"

The sound of the steamer's whistle came to remind the traveler that it was time to board the ship, and also interrupted the conversation between the two.

"Alright, it's not too early, I should go too." Cheng Nuo took his suitcase and said with a smile: "I will leave it to you first to continue to maintain multi-party contact on the German side." ”

Although there is reluctance in their eyes, there is no banquet in the world that will not be dispersed, not to mention that they are not saying goodbye this time.

Li Hua pursed his lips, he wanted to say something, but suddenly thought that he had brought something over, and quickly turned his shoulder bag from behind his back to the front: "Professor Cheng, this is the common intention of several of our classmates, how about you take a look?" ”

"Isn't this nonsense? You are all so poor that you eat turnips, and what do you spend, I can't take this thing, so take it back quickly, and return it to where you bought it. Cheng Nuo didn't even open anything, so he asked the students to take it away.

"No, Professor Cheng, you have misunderstood." Seeing that Cheng Nuo was not ready to accept it, Li Hua hurried to the front and took the initiative to open the contents of the bag: "We didn't buy this, and we can't buy it if we want to, it's made by a few of us." ”

When I opened the bag, there was a mini cannon made of small steel plates and welded together, and the appearance was polished and shiny, which looked very exquisite.

"The craftsmanship is rough and the equipment is poor, I hope Professor Cheng will not dislike it." While handing over things, Li Hua secretly observed Cheng Nuo's performance.

It's a pity that from the outside alone, it is impossible to detect what Cheng Nuo thinks.

With an expressionless face, Cheng Nuo asked, "Why did you think of giving me a cannon?" ”

Li Hua lowered his head and said nervously: "My classmates and I saw Professor Cheng studying artillery, thinking that you like this, thinking that with the cannon, you can help the motherland drive the great powers out, who ...... Who knows you don't like this. ”

Before he finished speaking, Cheng Nuo immediately interrupted it, with a smile on his face: "Who said I don't like it, not only do I like it, but I also like it very much, when I return to China, once a guest comes to the house, I will introduce it to them, saying that in a certain year and month, a young man named Li Hua personally gave me a cannon." ”

Li Hua scratched his head embarrassedly: "Professor Cheng, you have misunderstood, in fact, I didn't do it alone, and there was help from other students." ”

Cheng Nuo smiled: "If the introduction is changed, it was sent to me by German students, what do you think?" ”

Li Hua replied: "This is a good ......"

"But then again, all of you as students have given me things, and it is unreasonable for me, as a teacher, not to give you some things." After thinking about it, Cheng Nuo took out his mask, divided half of it and handed it over:

"The epidemic is frequent, this is the mask I brought from China, all of which were made by Mr. Wu Liande of the Medical College, but unfortunately there is a long delay in Europe, and there is not much left, so I will give you some today, and when you go to a place with a large flow of people, you must wear it well."

Masks are still a little unfamiliar to Li Hua, and even if he takes them, he doesn't know how to use them.

Even if Cheng Nuo personally demonstrated, Li Hua still wore it backwards when he started wearing it.

With a blushing face, Li Hua asked curiously: "Professor Cheng, what are you doing wearing this, is there really an epidemic?" ”

Raising his hand to look at his watch, there was still a period of time before the departure of the ship, Cheng Nuo simply avoided the flow of people, pulled Li Hua aside and said seriously: "Do you know about the Northeast plague?" ”

Li Hua nodded: "I learned something from the newspaper, and I heard that it swept the entire Northeast region at that time, because of this, fifty or sixty thousand people died." ”

"I'm telling you, the next epidemic will directly sweep the world, and the estimated death toll may be 2,000 times that of this?" Cheng Nuo said without hesitation.

Hearing this number, Li Hua was instantly stunned, and his voice involuntarily rose a few decibels, and he said in disbelief: "Professor Cheng, what you said is true?" ”

Cheng Nuo was a little helpless, and hurriedly covered Li Hua's mouth to prevent too much movement.

After Li Huameng blinked and made sure that he had calmed down, Cheng Nuo let go and said seriously: "The flu has already broken out once, but it is concentrated on the battlefield and has not affected the rear cities for the time being, but even so, nearly 500,000 German soldiers have been infected with the flu."

The Entente were also affected, but their soldiers were more adequately supplied and fed, and therefore more resistant to epidemics. But this is just the beginning, and our medical school has determined that the flu is back in the fall, and it is more severe.

Imagine the beginning of hell when the virus has adapted to the climate, and the infected soldiers at the front return to their hometowns because of the end of the war, and I don't know how many local residents will be affected. ”

Thinking about that kind of scene, Li Hua couldn't help but shudder: "Why didn't I not only not hear the news from the German authorities, but also from the hostile countries, I didn't hear similar news. ”

Cheng Nuo smiled bitterly: "It is because of the fear of exposing the damage caused by the epidemic to the enemy army, the warring governments failed to take preventive measures to stop the development of the epidemic, and then it worsened step by step. ”

In fact, from the official outbreak of the First World War to 1918, where Cheng Nuo lived, it had entered its fifth year, and the warring countries were already in a state of stalemate on the battlefield.

It was in this year that a highly pathogenic infectious disease appeared, resulting in an extremely high mortality rate, known in history as the "Spanish flu".

The speed of transmission is very fast, in that era of underdeveloped transportation conditions, it quickly spread throughout the world in just two years, although there is no accurate death statistics about this pandemic, but later estimates are about 25 million ~ 100 million people, and the total population of the world at that time was only about 1.7 billion people.

During the spread of the disease, nearly half of the world's population was infected.

The reason why the big flu is called "Spanish flu" or "Spanish lady" is because experts have diagnosed this respiratory disease in Spain, and it does not mean that it originated in Spain.

In other words, Britain, France, the United States, Germany and other countries have united to bully honest people and forcibly put the stigmatization hat on others.

The British always thought that it was our workers who supported the war in Europe that spread it, saying that the Chinese workers had already experienced a similar flu before this, and had produced certain antibodies, so they could carry the virus across the ocean.

Although Cheng Nuo scoffed at the suggestion that the virus originated in China, one thing is undeniable is that the mortality rate of young and middle-aged people in this epidemic is extremely high, and the elderly and children can survive the difficulties.

The higher the immunity, the more powerful the virus.

Therefore, in the face of this thing, Cheng Nuo hit 120 hearts to guard against this thing.

Not only for the sake of his own personal safety, but also for the sake of the medical school, he also wants the medical school to seize this "opportunity" and let the name of the Academy of Sciences be completely played in front of the people of the world.

And accumulate experience from it, so that more compatriots can avoid being taken away by the epidemic.

"The steps to make these things are not complicated, the materials are easy to find, and they are not expensive, so you must make more when you go back in case you need them." Cheng Nuo instructed.

Although he was a little unaccustomed to wearing it for the first time, thinking that it was Cheng Nuo's opinion, Li Hua still tried his best to abide by it, not only wearing it himself, but also taking the initiative to hand it to Cheng Nuo: "Professor Cheng, I see that the current flow of people is not small, for the sake of health, I think you can wear one now." ”

Cheng Nuo smiled: "Hey, you can learn and sell now, you can." But you were right, I'll put it on now. ”

Sending you a thousand miles, you must say goodbye in the end.

No matter how reluctant they are, the two still have to separate.

Looking at the back of Cheng Nuo boarding the ship, Li Hua suddenly shouted: "Professor Cheng, does our cannon really work?" ”

Cheng Nuo in the crowd smiled and didn't say anything, just took the mini cannon and made a cannon firing motion in the direction where the boat was going.

It was also a coincidence that the clouds gradually dispersed in the originally cloudy weather, and a beam of light hit the direction of the cannon just now.

"Li Hua, whether the cannon is useful or not depends on us."

……

"Woo~"

The steamer's whistle sounded again, only this time it was a farewell after leaving the port.

At some point, Planck and Einstein appeared in the harbor, standing side by side, silently watching the ship Cheng Nuo was on sailing towards the sea.

"It's still a step too late, and I didn't catch up with him." Einstein complained a little: "Why did he not inform us before leaving, not only did he not have the opportunity to give gifts, but he also did not have the opportunity to say goodbye, which is too bad to treat us as friends, right?" ”

Planck put his hands behind his back and comforted: "If it weren't for the last resort, Cheng wouldn't have chosen to do this, his reputation in Berlin is too big these days, and there are already some bad people who have noticed him, and no matter how much fanfare he makes when he leaves, it is easy to have an accident, and even being forced to stay in Berlin, it is not impossible." ”

Thinking about the recent situation, Einstein sighed: "No wonder yesterday, Cheng specially made us a Chinese meal, it turned out that he wanted to say goodbye to us, at that time he only cared about tasting food and praising Cheng's craftsmanship, and now it is not easy to look at him, I just hope that the war will end as soon as possible, so that we can have the opportunity to meet again." ”

Planck smiled and shook his head: "Actually, at that time, Cheng's words had the meaning of leaving, although I saw it at the time, but I didn't expect it to be so sudden, and I didn't have any precautions, but the situation of the war, who can say for sure?" But then again, Cheng invited me and you to study in China, are you going? ”

Einstein's eyes widened: "Why don't you go, there are so many things to look forward to, in addition to Cheng's friend, there are also food and musical instruments, and most importantly, I want to see what kind of garden will be born from the scientific soil sown by Cheng himself." ”

Planck laughed: "First the flower of mathematics, then the flower of physics, then the flower of chemistry...... The name of the garden is the Flower of Science! ”